Guarantors should comply with orders or face charges

By JIMMY KALEBE
PEOPLE who act as guarantors for accused people in court must comply with all court orders or face charges, a senior magistrate warned in Lae yesterday.
Committal Court Magistrate Pious Tapil said there had been cases where when an accused person was granted bail, he or she sometimes did not appear for some or all of their mention dates.
Tapil made these comments when issuing arrest warrants for a man charged with rape and his two guarantors.
The warrants were issued for the accused, Max Marako, 25, from Okombe village, Komo-Margarima in Hela and his two guarantors.
Magistrate Tapil gave police three weeks to arrest Marako and both guarantors and have them before the court on April 29.
Police alleged that Marako raped a minor last Septemberat Igam Block in Lae.
The matter was reported to police after the victim told her grandmother.
Magistrate Tapil said it was the guarantor’s responsibility to ensure that the accused person attended to all court mention dates.
He said arrest warrants would be issued for those who missed multiple court dates along with their guarantors.
“When a warrant of arrest is issued, automatically the bail money for the accused person, including the surety fees paid by the guarantors will be set aside,” he said.