Pilot’s case adjourned

AN Australian pilot, one of the accused in the biggest drug bust in the country last year, will return to court in two weeks for a ruling on his charge of dealing with criminal property.
His lawyer had opted not to make submissions, but asked the court to consider the content of police hand-up brief and deliver its ruling.
Central committal court Magistrate Alex Kalandi adjourned the case of David John Cutmore, 52, to Sept 23 for the ruling.
Cutmore was alleged to have crashed a Cessna-402 twin-engine during take-off with 611kg of cocaine on board at Papa Lealea village, about 30km west of Port Moresby.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa), through its lawyer, Carol Jaran, moved a motion yesterday to have Cutmore serve a custodial sentence after he failed to pay fines for entering PNG illegally and without proper aviation documents.
Jaran submitted that Cutmore had pleaded guilty to two charges under section 278 (1) (a) and 280 (a) of the Civil Aviation Act and was ordered by the court to pay a total of K37,000 within two months but that had not happened. “We filed a notice of motion on June 29, 2020, seeking two orders under section 167 of the District Court Act,” Jaran said.
Cutmore’s charges under the Customs Act were also adjourned to Sept 23.
He has been remanded at the Bomana Immigration Detention Centre.