Suspects: Statements fabricated

By KARO JESSE
THREE men accused of robbing K1 million at the Jackson Airport at 7-Mile, Port Moresby, on Nov 3, 2016, have told the court that their confessional statements were fabricated by police.
The accused claimed that there record of interviews were influenced by the fabricated statements produced by police.
The trio, in their application of notice of voir dire, told the court that they never gave statements to police and refused to sign one as they were denied their rights to legal counsel.
National Court Judge Panuel Mogish on Tuesday, refused to make a ruling on the
applications.
However, he ordered that the accused’s evidence on the application would be put forward for trial as evidence.
Justice Mogish ordered that the ruling on the applications would be given after the trial was completed.
The State alleged that Donald Steven Joe, Charlton Erick and Jason Yvia were responsible for robbing K1,195,000 from staff at the TropicAir terminal at Jackson Airport in 2016.
It was alleged that Erick and Steven were dropped off by a Ford Ranger driven by Joel Ruman Taha, who is still at large, at around 7.30am, with each man carrying a box.
The three allegedly went in and held up the staff of Tropicair with pistols and took the money.
Yvia was accused of manning the entrance to the terminal.
The accused allegedly took the money and drove to Gordon 5 where they abandoned the Ford Ranger and got into a Toyota Land Cruiser.
The accused then went to Vadavada where they shared the money among themselves.