Soldiers committed to stand trial for allegedly killing cop
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Soldiers committed to stand trial for allegedly killing cop
PORT MORESBY: Two soldiers accused of killing a policeman a year
ago here were committed by the Waigani committal court to stand trial in the
National Court.
Magistrate Paul Nii said the evidence before the court
was sufficient to commit Supa James, 48, and Richard Ure, 31.
Details of the court proceedings were published by The National:
Soldiers to
stand trial over killing
January 18, 2022The
NationalMain Stories
By BEVERLY PETER
TWO soldiers accused of killing a policeman a year ago in Port Moresby
were committed by the Waigani Committal Court to stand trial in the National
Court.
Magistrate Paul Nii, when committing Supa James, 48, of Noure village in
Chuave, Chimbu, and Richard Ule, 31, of Dirima village in Gumini, Chimbu, said
evidence before the court was sufficient.
“The evidence provided by the police before this court is sufficient for this
matter to go to the National Court,” he said.
“I refuse to accept the submission by James and Ule’s lawyer as it did not
change the facts of the offence.”
Police alleged that between 2am and 3am on May 9, 2020, James and Ule were
caught by police smuggling alcohol at Airport Transport Squadron (ATS).
At the time, police, including the victim as the commander of the team, were
conducting a checkpoint at ATS under a State of Emergency order issued by the
police hierarchy to control liquor in the nearby areas leading to the ATS
settlement. There was a commotion when police attempted to stop James, Ule and
their friends from smuggling beer and confiscated it.
The commotion then ended up in a fight between the policemen and soldiers.
Police alleged that injuries sustained by the victim at that time resulted in
his death.
Magistrate Nii, after assessing the evidence, said the defence lawyer had
raised some issues on how the police file was filed in this case.
“Things such as content page and page numbers are matters of practice to make a
court file look proper for the court’s convenience,” he said. “Defence lawyer
argued that there were two commotions that night but James and Ule were present
at the second commotion and the injuries sustained by the victim were from the
first commotion.
“I refuse to accept as whether the first or the second commotion. Both James
and Ule were identified as being present at the commotion area.”
The matter was adjourned to next Wednesday for James and Ule to give their
section 96 statements.
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