Pilot fined K37,000 after admitting to offences

The National Main Stories

By BOURA GORUKILA
AUSTRALIAN pilot David John Cutmore was fined a total of K37,000 by the Central Court on Friday after he admitted to entering Papua New Guinea illegally and without proper aviation documents.
Magistrate Alex Kalandi fined Cutmore, 52, K30,000 for a charge under section 278 (1) (a) and K7,000 for a second charge under section 280 (a) of the Civil Aviation Act (CAA).
Magistrate Kalandi said a custodial sentence was inappropriate and sentenced Cutmore based on aggravating factors that:

  • CUTMORE disrespected the laws of PNG;
  • DRUGS transported illegally were of high monetary value;
  • HE landed on a de-commissioned airstrip; and,
  • NATURE of offences.

“PNG is a sovereign nation and, thus, not appropriate for a person of another sovereign nation to disrespect and undermine the laws of PNG to evade its statutory and conduct business at will,” Magistrate Kalandi said.
“The act performed does not only breach the CAA but breached the sovereignty of PNG.
“Therefore, Cutmore has to pay the court fines in full in order to be discharged.”
He said in the event Cutmore did not have the money to pay the fines, there had to be sufficient evidence to establish that he was not in the position to pay the K37,000.
An alternative would be sought in court when the two months lapsed.

3 comments

  • The Laws the foreign criminal was charged with has nothing to do with drug smuggling. He is not charged for smuggling drug into our country but for illegal entry without proper documents. So that means if he had proper aviation documents and that his entry isn’t illegal, than he’s good to go, nothing wrong with the drugs.

  • This case should be a precedent case and the court should impose heavy custodial sentence on this culprit. paying money to buy freedom does not provide strong security for our sovereignty. In the future people with heavy cash can evade and do illegal activities in our soil and pay money to buy freedom if caught. Why not impose heavy custodial sentence to be served here in PNG or Australia. I see that the court is too lenient and setting a bad precedent here. National security is not protected in any way…

  • How about he was in possession of illicit or dangerous drugs??? The penalty for such case is too soft, it should have been tougher. All these outdated laws need to be reviewed.

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