Officer gets 3yrs for assault

National

By Alphonse Porau
A SENIOR police officer has been jailed for three years for assaulting a colleague higher up the ranks.
Chief Inspector Stanley Poga had assaulted the director of the National Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate Chief Superintendent Mathew Damaru two years ago. He was upset because Damaru had opposed his application for a legal officer’s position.
Justice George Manuhu convicted Poga at the Waigani National Court on a charge of assault causing grievous bodily harm.
Manuhu said Poga was a senior officer who had no respect for another senior officer of the force.
He said there were similar cases of senior officers who breached protocol relating to the disciplined forces and who were sentenced to three years.
“And by way of exercising my discretion, I will not suspend but impose a three-year sentence,” Manuhu said.
The incident happened on April 30, 2015, at the NFACD office in Port Moresby.
Poga had stormed into Damaru’s office at Konedobu without an appointment.
Damaru was not expecting him and asked him to identify himself.
Poga identified himself and before Damaru could reply, Poga picked up a plastic paper tray and hit Damaru on the forehead, causing a deep cut.
Damaru was later treated at the St Mary’s Clinic where he received 18 stitches to the wound.