Murder case thrown out

ALCOHOL causes people to over react to minor situations and make them worse, says a senior magistrate.
Magistrate Cosmas Bidar made the comment in the Waigani Committal Court when throwing out the case of Junior Arthur Paul, 23, of Lakui village in Kompiam–Anbum, Enga, who was accused of the wilful murder of Manuel Tennis in a drunken brawl, because of a lack of evidence.
“People are agitated by very minor things when they are drinking and many times others get injured or even death occurs,” Bidar said.
“In this case, someone broke an empty beer bottle on a road and caused a reaction.
“It was unfortunate that a person died but we are not able to clearly identify who actually caused his death.
“Was it one person, or a whole group of people who assaulted the person by kicking and punching him causing injuries which led to his death?”
Bidar said it was an allegation involving a number of people who were under the influence of alcohol and one that occurred during the night where identification of what actually happened among different groups of people was difficult.
“There is no evidence to show that Paul had any motive to kill anybody let alone Tennis at that time,” he said.
“He was drinking with his friends. Tennis was drinking with his boss.
“There were others who were there too but they could recall exactly what happened and how Tennis was beaten up, succumbing to injuries which caused his death.”
The court found that the evidence was insufficient to identify Paul as the perpetrator in Tennis’s death thereby throwing his case out.
The alleged incident occurred on Nov 17 last year.