Suspect allowed to take trip

ONE of the suspects charged with controlling and distributing of 287 boxes of counterfeit Waswas soap brand was granted permission by a Committal Court in Lae on Friday to travel on a seven-day business trip to Port Moresby and return to Lae.
The court allowed Yan Xiao, 40, from Wuhan, China, to travel to Port Moresby today and return on June 11.
The court granted her variation application submitted in court after an understanding that her going to Port Moresby was for business.
The court was told that Xiao during her stay in Port Moresby would meet with representatives of her suppliers who will be in Port Moresby at that time.
In her application, Xiao told the court that she would be back in Lae and would not abscond from the current case before the court.
The court was told that Xiao had children in a Lae school and her husband was a lecturer at a Government institution and these reasons guaranteed her return to the province.
Xiao’s lawyer Kenneth Aisi when presenting the application in court added that his client had paid a court bail of K10,000 and would attend her mention dates.
The court took note of Xiao’s travel itinerary and that she had children in school in Lae and her husband was teaching at an institution in the city when granting the application.
Meanwhile, the court was told that the police hand up brief was ready.
The case involving the charge of being in control and distributing counterfeit products for Chinese nationals will return on July 7.