Murder suspect released after witnesses’ fail to identify him

By ZEDAIAH KANAU
A SECOND security guard alleged to have been involved in the killing of a man at the car park of a shopping mall in Port Moresby in 2019 walked free yesterday after police witnesses failed to identify him as the man who caused the death.
Waigani Committal Court Magistrate Seth Tanei discharged Raymond Thomas from the charge of murder and ordered that his bail of K1,000 be refunded after police failed to satisfy aspects of the charge.
“Firstly, identification is an important element to the offence itself,” Magistrate Tanei said.
“I’ve found that none of the witnesses in the police hand-up brief identified the defendant (Thomas) as the person who killed the deceased.
“The evidence does not point to any act that the defendant did to endanger the life of the deceased.
“There’s evidence that there was a fight between the defendant and the deceased but there is no evidence to say that the defendant caused the death of the deceased by an act that would endanger the deceased’s life.”
Magistrate Tanei said according to the police brief, the cause of death was sub-arachnoid haemorrhage (bleeding around the brain) due to fractured skull following blunt trauma.
“This, in normal terms, means that the deceased was killed by being hit by a strong object on his head,” he said.
“In order for the court to commit the defendant to stand trial at the National Court, police evidence must show that the defendant’s action caused the death or, at least, contribute to his death.”
Magistrate Tanei said that the CCTV footage did not show that the fight between Thomas and the deceased on Nov 24, 2019, which led to the later’s death.
“From the CCTV footage, the defendant was struck by a totally different person in a separate fight,” he said.
“The defendant was not near the deceased at the time when the deceased was killed.”
Magistrate Tanei said the fight between Thomas and the deceased lasted about three minutes and when the fight ended, the deceased was still active and moving around.
“This, in my view, shows the deceased’s’ fight with the defendant did not cause his death,” he said.