Petitioner against Namah makes first court appearance

THE lawyer representing a Vanimo-Green election petitioner has told the court that both parties did not appear in the previous hearing because the court registry had failed to inform them of changes to court dates.
Lawyer Fredrick Lunge, representing petitioner Erick Kowa, informed the Waigani National Court yesterday, when responding to Judge Joseph Yagi about why they had missed the Sept 27 hearing.
“We were not notified by the court registry about the changes in the court dates and due to the confusion, there was no appearance by both parties,” he told the court.
Lunge presented a copy of the draft orders to the court and asked for a seven-day adjournment so parties would prepare after service and return for directive hearing.
“This election petition is about the allegation of bribery to voters at the polling sites in the Green River and Vanimo areas of the electorate,” Lunge told the court.
Lawyer Philip Tabuchi, who represented Vanimo-Green MP Belden Namah, told the court that there was no objection with the adjournment date.
“I may ask the petitioner to provide me with a copy of the draft order so that we can be aware and be ready for the directive hearing,” Tabuchi said.
Justice Yagi told both parties to prepare well and return for the directions hearing on the appointed date.
“Petitioners should come back after 28 days for pre-trial conference and that is under rule 13,” he said.
“When you ask for and adjournment, you are pushing back time and all petitioners should understand this.”
The matter was adjourned to Monday for directions hearing.