Man freed due to lack of evidence

A MAGISTRATE has freed a man charged with murder.
He had been detained for 10 months because the police had not been able to provide sufficient evidence to have the case proceed.
Committal Court Magistrate Paul Puri Nii ruled on Thursday in Waigani that the case against Ernest Manorh, 23, from Namatanai’s Tanga in New Ireland, be struck out as he was unlawfully detained without any proper evidence provided by police to sustain the charge.
“The information of murder is struck out for want of evidence by police and the defendant is released from lawful custody,” Magistrate Nii ruled.
Lawyer Emmanuel Ellison, from the Office of the Public Solicitor who represented Manorh, filed an application pursuant to Section 37 of the Constitution to ask the court to strike out the case as his client’s co-accused had also been released earlier based on the same facts.
“I will ask the court to strike out the case as my client has been unlawfully detained without any proper arrest and charged with the offence of murder,” he told the court.
Magistrate Nii, in his ruling, stated that “the accused had the right to protection under Section 37 (1) of the Constitution which must be enforced”.
Outside court, Manorh told The National that he was unlawfully detained at Bomana prison for 10 months without any proper documents from the police on his arrest and on the charge.
“I was unlawfully detained at Bomana for something I did not do,” he said.