Yakasa absent from court

By ADRIAN MATHIAS
PERSONS charged with offences have a duty to be available in court, police prosecutor Senior Sgt.Koniu Polon said yesterday after a senior police officer failed to appear in court.
Supt Fred Yakasa’s case was scheduled for mention in the Waigani Committal court yesterday but he did no appear.Yakasa attracted controversy when he was made police commissioner by Sir Michael Somare after the Supreme Court ruled Peter O’Neill’s election as prime minister last August was un­­con­sti­tutional.
That resulted in the country having two prime ministers and two police commissioners, among others.
Yakasa was charged with one count of interfering with the political liberty of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and others at the height of the political impasse, when it is alleged he and other policemen set up a barricade around Government House on Dec 12 and 13, in a move to prevent O’Neill and his fellow parliamentarians from being sworn into office.
The prosecution alleged that Yakasa and his group of policemen had contravened section 79 (1) of the PNG Criminal Code Act Chapter 262.
He was arrested and charged by police in the National Capital District and his case is now proceeding at the Waigani Committal Court in Port Moresby.
Magistrate Rosie Johnson, while adjourning his case to Wednesday, asked the prosecutor if he had any idea why Yakasa failed to appear in court.
The prosecutor said he did not know why he was absent. Yakasa is on own-recognition bail.