A Police Prosecutor attached to the Lae Prosecution Section has been sentenced to three years imprisonment last week for causing grievous bodily harm to two people, after they spoke out against him spitting inside a supermarket. His two victims, a supermarket employee and a customer were present when Acting Justice John Numapo handed down the sentencing which he said “is necessary to demonstrate community’s disapproval of this type of behaviour by police officers.” This is one case of police brutality which according to Justice Numapo, has contributed towards police brutality becoming too prevalent and leading to a general distrust by the public towards law enforcement officers.
Despite the accused apologising and pleading for leniency because he was a first time offender with a small family to look after, Justice Numapo, said law enforcers must be punished appropriately for breaking the laws. It was in mid-May when Constable Jessie Kaia, from, Imbongu, Southern Highlands Province, who was off-duty, dressed in civilian clothes and drunk, drew the ire of fellow shoppers and staff at the Andersons Supermarket in Eriku, when he spit on the floor at the fast-food and bakery section of the supermarket. After being ushered out of the supermarket, he stopped a police unit vehicle and accused a fellow customer and an employee of the supermarket and brought them to the Chinatown police station, where in the company of other policemen he beat both men with an iron bar and a spade handle, afflicting serious injuries. The two victims were left at the police station cell for 10 hours without any charges laid against them, before being released and directed to seek immediate medical attention. Justice Numapo said in line with Sections 2 of the Criminal Law Act 1991, the accused is ordered to pay, within 30 days, a sum of K3,000 and K2,000 each, totaling K5,000 to the two victims, which will see 18 months deducted from the total head sentence. NBC News /PNGfacts Comments are closed.
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