Staff charged with stealing K17,390

TWO former Air Niugini staff members charged with stealing K17,390 from their employer, will return to court on Monday for a ruling on evidence.
Delmarine Angeli, 36, from Dreikikier village, Ambunti-Dreikikier, East Sepik, and Rosemary Batari, 28, from Pendeng village, Tewai-Siassi, Morobe, made submissions yesterday in the Waigani Committal Court questioning the evidence obtained by police.
The defendants’ lawyer, Frederick Lunge, told the court that there was no direct evidence identifying the two accused being involved in the alleged offence.
Lunge submitted that internal documents obtained by the prosecution from Air Niugini was improperly before the court because there were no statement from any witness referring to the documents.
“Section 94 (e and f) of the District Court Act states any evidence or statements to be tendered in a committal hearing in the form of the prosecutions hand-up brief, should be in accordance with the evidence and should be in a form of a sworn statement,” he said.
“We are saying that there is no other primary documentation or sworn statement on file referring to those set of information from Air Niugini.”
Lunge submitted that there was an absence of identification of the two linked to the alleged offence. Police Prosecutor Sgt Joseph Sangam submitted that the defendants were employees of Air Niugini when the money went missing and were later identified during investigations.