1 week Ago By Prudence Auvita
THE President of the PNG Police Association Lowa Tambua’s criminal case has been further adjourned for submission. Tambua was charged earlier this year under section 64 of the Criminal Code Act after members of the disciplinary forces gathered at Ungai Oval in NCD and protested against an alleged increase in tax and illegal pay cuts on January 10, 2024. Police alleged that Tambua, as the president of the PNG Police Association, had instigated and prompted the January 10 gathering that led to chaos and disorder in the nation’s capital and in other towns and cities in the country.
Police have completed the investigation into the allegations and served the hand-up brief to Tambua on May 19, 2024, where the court set a date in July for the defence to make their submission. However; the defence counsel has asked for another adjournment. Magistrate Albert Daniels of the Waigani Committal Court has agreed to have the matter set to October 31, 2024, for the defence to come prepared with the submission on the sufficiency of the evidence.
It was alleged that the defendant Lowa Tambua, 58, from Leka village in Pangia, Southern Highlands Province, had allegedly prompted the strike on January 10, 2024, when officers from the Correctional Institute Service (CIS), Royal PNG Constabulary (RPNGC) and the PNG Defence Force gathered at the Unagi Oval to protest what they believed were tax increases and pay cuts. The protest prompted unrest citywide and and spread to other parts of the country. In NCD, the chaos provided cover for opportunists, who forced their way into shops and business and stole substantial amounts of goods and money before torching hundreds of millions of kinas worth of properties, a day where all NCD, along with the country, went into mayhem.
Magistrate Daniels has now adjourned the matter to October 31, 2024, for the submission on the sufficiency of evidence to be moved before the court in disputing the allegations against the defendant..
