Person cannot be charged twice for same offence: Court

By GIDEON KINDIWA
AN accused person cannot be charged or punished twice for the same offence, a magistrate said when striking out such a case.
Magistrate Cosmas Bidar discharged Tony Mark Ekepa, 46, and Ken Pos, 64, who were charged with five counts of conspiracy to defraud and five counts of misappropriation.
Bidar struck out the case at the Waigani Committal Court after finding out that the defendants had been previously acquitted by the National Court on the same charges but were re-arrested and charged again based on the same facts.
“The evidence is clearly insufficient,” he said.
“Even if they were committed to trial, the same facts and evidence that had been used before would be used again.”
The defendants were both from Porgera in Enga and were members of the Porgera Landowners’ Association and signatories to its bank account at the Bank South Pacific.
It was alleged that Ekepa, who was the chairman of the association, and Pos, made five withdrawals from the account totalling K810,000.
The amount was then allegedly deposited into Kaiyandupi Investment Ltd.
The transfers were allegedly done without resolutions or meeting minutes by executives and clan agents of the association.
Magistrate Bidar said there was nothing new about the facts of the case.
He said police had to come up with new evidence and facts to prosecute suspects and not on the same facts.
Magistrate Bidar discharged the defendants and ordered for their bail to be refunded.