Woman charged with wilful damage to await evidence

A Lae committal court has told a 30-year-old woman charged with wilful damage on Friday to wait for police evidence for further decision on trial.
Olivia Sunana, of Korpata village in Sohe, Northern, had been out on a police bail of K1,000 and would wait for a further decision from Magistrate Lorna Sani, whether to mention her case in grade five court or National Court because of the amount of money and the cost of damaged properties.
Magistrate Sani noted that Sunana did not provide a proper BMS (bail management system) bail receipt to the court.
“You should have converted the BSP bank receipt to a BMS bail receipt before appearing in court,” she said.
“I could arrest you for not following the correct court procedures.
“The police exercise their discretion, but the court has the final say in every matter.
“When a matter is in court, it is the court’s business until the matter is cleared.”
Magistrate Sani told the accused that the damage she caused to the vehicle was estimated to be K10,631 and the car belonged to a company.
“You’ve committed a serious offence by damaging the company’s property,” she said.
“You are out on bail but it doesn’t mean you are free, you will still obey the court of law.”
The court then formally released Sunana with bail conditions where she was to report to the prosecution officer in charge on every Tuesday after every two weeks, not to interfere with State witnesses and not to commit any offence while on bail.
The court told the prosecution that Sunana’s next mention would be on Sept 28.
It was alleged that on July 25, at a 2-Mile bus stop in Lae, Morobe, the accused called the complainant to pick her up with their three children.
The court noted that the complainant drove in a Toyota double-cab to the location the accused mentioned.
The accused allegedly came out from the crowd armed with two stones and attacked the complainant.