Potholes contribute to increase in holdups: Court

By JIMMY KALEBE
POTHOLES on Lae roads are contributing to an increase in the number of armed holdups in the city, the National Court in Lae heard last week.
The Morobe government has to fix those roads to help reduce the crime and  related offences, it heard.
Judge Panuel Mogish said armed robbers took advantage of the situation and were   holding up vehicles as they slowed down to negotiate large potholes.
“Unless those roads are fixed, armed robberies related to this road situation will increase,” Mogish said.
He sentenced Guamse Tom Dama of  Dumun village, Chuave, Chimbu to 12 years imprisonment with hard labour for an armed robbery of a company 25-seat bus at Second Seven Dump area in Lae on July last year.
The court suspended three years of the sentence during which time Dama will be on a good behaviour bond and deducted a further year for the time he spent in custody.
He will serve eight years in Buimo jail.
Mogish asked other prisoners how they would feel if such robberies were to happen at their house or to one of their family members.
“You would certainly be traumatised and feel angry, so try to put yourself into those victims’ situation and drive some good thoughts in your mind to refrain from such offences,” he said.
Court documents revealed that Dama and four accomplices had held up a Black Swan Security company bus with guns and knives.
The prisoner and his accomplices chopped the heads and arms of two security personnel in the bus and made off with their belongings.