Woman released from detention to look after children

A WOMAN was allowed out from police detention to look after her children after she told the court that she stabbed her ex-husband in self-defence.
Lae District Court Magistrate Tera Dawai adjourned the case for trial on April 2 and told Evelyn Wakare, 36, from Enga, to call her witness and also the complainant to be present and give his side of the story in court.
Magistrate Dawai granted her release after she told the court that she had five children and that the youngest was a year and three months old.
Wakare pleaded not guilty to one count of unlawful assault when she told the court that her ex-husband tried to punch her first and, in her defence, she stabbed him.
She was freed from police custody without paying any bail and was told to return to court with her child.
According to court, she also remarried to another man.
It was alleged that on Feb 27, at 7.30pm in down town Lae, the complainant was with his current wife and three others who went to buy rice at the store.
It was alleged that Wakare was near the entrance of the shop and, upon seeing the complainant and his wife, spoke in Engan and laughed.
An argument erupted and the complainant allegedly swung a punch at her, so she took out a pocket knife and stabbed him on his right arm and chest.
Police alleged that he was rushed to the hospital by a security vehicle for treatment.
A formal complaint was later laid and Wakare was arrested.