A Papua New Guinea court application to stop the news media from reporting on an alleged sexual offence incident involving Goroka MP Aiye Tambua has been thrown out.

Magistrate Paul Puri Nii, sitting in the Waigani Committal Court, refused the application by Tambua’s lawyer yesterday, saying media freedom was everybody’s freedom.

“People won’t kill you,” Nil told the MP.

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“You are a leader, and you are subject to critics [sic]. For me, I am not going to bar the media.

“Being a magistrate, being a judge, being a leader, you are subject to critics, and that’s nothing. That’s going to either correct you or lead you in the wrong direction. But it’s up to you.

“I advocate for media freedom so I think that [for that] aspect of the motion, I will refuse it.”

Nii said the media were “the ears and the eyes of people” and that was why he advocated for media freedom.

Allowed to travel
The magistrate granted the motion seeking orders to allow Tambua, 45, to travel out of Port Moresby, but said he had to return before May 9, which was the next court appearance date.

Tambua, through his lawyer Edward Sasingian, filed a motion seeking orders to:

• ALLOW the defendant to continue to travel out of Port Moresby; and
• RESTRICT the media from reporting on the case on the basis that the media has caused repercussions on the defendant and the victims.

Sasingian also informed the court that he had served a copy of the motion on the prosecution and both had agreed on the position to restrict media until a determination is made in the committal proceedings.

He referred to a District Court decision which barred the media from reporting, but Nii said: “For me, I advocate media freedom. Other magistrates may bar the media but this is court room two, my court, so media has the freedom to report.”

Report on facts
Nii also urged media to report on facts.

“If you want to report on the matter, come to the courts, get the court files and report on the matter,” he said.

Tambua’s case was adjourned until May 9, for further mention, after the prosecution informed the court that police were still doing investigations to establish the allegations and produce a brief.

The MP, from Goroka’s Massy village, Eastern Highlands, was alleged to have committed the sexual offences on the three victims (all family members) on different occasions over a period of time.

Tambua is facing 26 charges and had his bail extended.

Boura Goru Kila is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

A senior National Court judge in Papua New Guinea has dismissed an expatriate prisoner’s request to have his sentence suspended due to poor health.

The state prosecutions objected to the request saying he was a main actor in the crime and deserved the highest penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment.

Justice Mogish then said: “It could be seen as a double standard.”

Melyne Baroi is a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.

The Chief Justice of Papua New Guinea, Sir Gibbs Salika, has called on the National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop to enforce the Summary Offences Act.

Sir Gibbs made this strong plea at the opening of 2024 legal year yesterday.

“Lawlessness in the city is escalating immensely because the laws of the country are not being enforced. This should be a wake-up call for the NCD Governor Mr Parkop to fix this issue at hand,” said Sir Gibbs.

• READ MORE: Black Wednesday lawlessness in Port Moresby reports

“The rioting on January,10, 2024, was repeated by the same group of people a few days ago and many other issues arise in the city and throughout the country, which is becoming a threat to the rule of law.

“This shows our adherence to the rule of law, which is by far weak and not working well.

“Relevant authorities should enforce the National Capital District Commissions Act to control the chewing of betelnut and its spittle all over the city, which shows lawlessness; it is disgusting.

‘Law must be enforced’
“The NCDC Act must be enforced along with the Summary Offences Act to penalise the citizens who are violating the rule of law.”

The constabulary was also urged to uphold and adhere to the rule of law in making sure citizens were helped without fear or favour from the police force.

Sir Gibbs expounded on the duty of the judicial arm of the government and explained that the judiciary was there to interpret the laws in a timely and partial manner.

He encouraged the police force to also perform their duty to execute the laws that were passed down by the government in order for the society to function.

Republished with permission from the PNG Post-Courier.

Former MP for Madang Open and anti-corruption campaigner Bryan Kramer has filed a Supreme Court appeal against a National Court ruling dismissing his application for leave to review a Leadership Tribunal’s decision to dismiss him from office.

His appeal to the Supreme Court follows the refusal of a leave to review application in the National Court presided by Justice John Carey on August 18.

Kramer said in a statement that he had filed an application on the 23 May 2023 in the National Court to review the decision of the Leadership Tribunal.

• READ MORE: Anti-corruption crusader guilty of misconduct in office
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He later withdrew this and refiled on June 30.

The refiled application raised nine primary grounds, including breach of natural justice, procedural unfairness, apprehension of bias in being denied a fair hearing, unreasonableness and being oppressive and harsh and not “reasonably justifiable in a democratic society”.

After waiting almost three months for a judge to hear his leave application, the matter was listed before Justice John Carey on August 18. However, straight after hearing detailed submission from counsels, Justice Carey delivered an oral judgement refusing Kramer’s application.

Justice Carey ruled that Kramer had not satisfied all the requirements, in particular an arguable case

Further nine grounds
Kramer is now appealing the judge’s ruling on a further nine grounds that include an allegation that the judge had failed to properly deliver a reasoned judicial decision.

He will submit that the judge had erred in directing Kramer’s counsel to narrow his submissions to the ground of apprehension of bias to the exclusion of the issues raised in the eight other grounds.

Further, the judge had failed to consider specific matters raised in each of nine grounds.

The judge had delivered two judgments, the first oral and the second published without indicating to parties, and that was altered and expounded on the reasons in the oral judgement.

He was dismissed in May this year by a a Leadership Tribunal comprising Justice Lawrence Kangwia and senior Magistrates Josephine Nidue and Edward Komia.

The Tribunal found him guilty on seven of thirteen allegations of misconduct in office

Five of the seven misconduct charges were in relation to decisions concerning the Madang District Development Authority (DDA) that he had failed to comply with legislative administrative requirements, and the misapplication of district funds to which they could not be lawfully applied.

Facebook publications
The remaining two misconduct charges were in relation to his Facebook publications that were found to have “scandalised the judiciary”.

The background of the two charges of him scandalising the judiciary were that in October 2019 he had published a three-part series of articles on Facebook concerning an arrest warrant against former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.

The first charge was over part of his publication insinuating a conflict of interest by Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika in publishing the words “a relevant matter to note is that the Chief Justice was only recently appointed by O’Neill late last year”.

The second charge was over publishing the words “What was not anticipated was that O’Neill and his lawyers would solicit the assistance from the Chief Justice and desperate enough to submit fabricated documents to mislead the court that the warrant was defective as a means to obtain a stay order”.

The Tribunal had recommended by majority that Kramer pay a fine of K2000 (about NZ$922) for each for the five charges in relation to the Madang District Development Authority as they were decisions made by the DDA Board and not Kramer alone.

However, it recommended unanimously for his dismissal from office in relation to his Facebook publications in scandalising the judiciary.

Pacific Media Watch reports that in a profile by The Guardian in 2019, Bryan Kramer — BK as he is known — was described as a “rising star in PNG politics” and as an anti-corruption campaigner who was instrumental in bringing to light the UBS scandal that helped to bring down former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s leadership.

Republished from the PNG Post-Courier with permission.

The Waigani National Court has finally handed down a ruling finding Boship Kaiwi guilty of causing the death of his wife Jenelyn Kennedy three years ago.

Despite persistent denials by Kaiwi that he had caused the death of Kennedy, he admitted to the court during the trial that he had elbowed and punched Kennedy around 18 June 2020.

Kaiwi’s defence lawyer had also argued that there was no direct evidence by the state to prove that Kaiwi had caused the death of Kennedy.

• READ MORE: Tragic life and death of Jenelyn — babysitter tells of PNG torture case
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However, acting judge Justice Laura Wawun-Kuvi, when handing down the verdict on Thursday, ruled that the court was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Kaiwi had caused the death of Kennedy.

Justice Wawun-Kuvi was satisfied with the witness statements that Kaiwi actually had an abusive relationship with Kennedy and he did cause the injuries that led to the death of Kennedy.

“I’m satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant (Kaiwi) had caused the death of Kennedy,” Justice Wawun-Kuvi said in her ruling.

The judge therefore found Kaiwi guilty.

A decision on sentence will follow in the coming weeks once the pre-sentence report and other documents are presented to court recommending the type of penalty to be imposed on Kaiwi.

Kaiwi was accused of torturing and assaulting his 19-year-old wife Jenelyn Kennedy between June 18 and 23, 2020, leading to her death.

Her case became a major issue and sparked public outrage and demands for tougher action over domestic violence in Papua New Guinea.

Republished with permission.