Pistol lending makes man robbery suspect

THE Waigani Committal Court yesterday adjourned a case against a man allegedly involved in a K1.2 million robbery at the Jackson International Airport last year, to next month.
Magistrate Cosmas Bidar said the court would look into the submission by the lawyer representing Teteme Jonah and the police brief to make an appropriate ruling.
Jonah, 30, from Mokara village in Pak Island, Manus was charged with one count of armed robbery.
His lawyer submitted that there was no evidence to prove that the accused took part in the robbery or was involved in planning the robbery.
He argued that the accused was not physically involved and did not know the people involved, and the persons who committed the crime were instructed by a third party to contact the accused to get the pistol used in the robbery.
Police alleged that on Nov 12, 2016 at 5pm while the accused was driving to down town Port Moresby to pick up his wife after work, he received a phone call from Alphonse Lance Moha — who was also charged for the same crime.
Moha called Jonah to ask if he could use his pistol. Jonah agreed to the request and after dropping off his wife met Moha at Hohola and handed him the gun.
The next day Nov 3, 2016, between 7am and 7.30am the pistol was allegedly used in the K1.2 million robbery.
After the robbery between 9pm and 10pm, the accused received a call from Moha who later handed him a share of the stolen money and the pistol.
During the investigation, the pistol was recovered from a policeman’s house at the Gordon Police Barracks and the accused also allegedly handed K2,000 to the investigation team.
The case has been adjourned to Oct 18.