Is the criminal justice system under a new threat?
Our page 8 story on a grieving fathers pursuit of justice for his sons death since 2014 has exposed yet another dilemma faced by many Papua New Guineans. And that is to obtain justice and ensure that justice is duly dispensed on the alleged perpetrators. In this case the suspected murderer of his son who is roaming around freely while the father and relatives of the victim are grieving the untimely death of their 20-year-old son seven years on . Although the case has not been well compiled, the National Court after con-sidering the evidence has found that the deceased son was actually murdered. And because there was insufficient evidence in finding that State Agencies, like the Police, and Health officials named as defendants deliberately or negligently failed to do what was required of them in relation to the death of the plaintiffs son, the court invoked Section 58(2) (compensation) of the Constitution by awarding the father K10,000 compensation. This is the latest twist to the rising murder cases and other cases that grieving relatives and even victims of other crimes are going through. There are some prominent cases that are still on the drawing board and we use the episode on the plight of the father as a test case to point out the sort of things that could be contributing to the spate in justice denied whilst in its preliminary stages especially in the district courts. The National Court in its findings said the suspect described as GB was detained in custody for several months before being granted bail by the National Court. The suspect GB faced committal proceedings in the district court, which in September 2014, refused to commit GB to trial. GB was released, and has not been returned to custody. The presiding magistrate, his Worship, Cosmos Bidar, was critical of the inadequate police investigation. The plaintiff, the deceaseds father was aggrieved by the failure of the case in the district court. He went to another police investigator, and the matter of the alleged inadequate police investigation was inquired into by Internal Affairs. A submission was made by police to the Public Prosecutor to see if an ex-officio indictment could be presented. The plaintiff complained to the Secretary of the Department of Health about deficiencies and alleged fabrication of the post-mortem report. This resulted in an internal investigation by the Medical Standards Division of the Department of Health. The report concluded that some minor errors had been made but concluded with nothing in support of the plaintiffs contention about fabrication of medical records,  The plaintiff complained to the Ombudsman Commission, which did a cursory investigation that yielded no results satisfactory to the plaintiff. The Metropolitan Superintendent at that time, took personal carriage of the matter in 2016 and 2017. Still, nothing tangible resulted. GB was not re-arrested. It is alarming when a superior court determines that there has been general and institutional failure on the part of the State to afford the plaintiff the full protection of the law. It is a serious issue because cases after cases are struck off for lack of evidence or the police files not being ready. If these situations are the result of tampering or a deliberate neglect to pervert the course of justice, then the whole criminal justice system is a failure. This is why the systems must be of highest integrity so citizens can trust it to serve them. A case like the one that has been ongoing since 2014 does raise eye brows. When there is an increase in GBV, rape and murder like this, you begin to wonder why it is occurring. The NCD police boss raised the question and said they are looking into why this new trend is picking up. Once the criminal justice system is compromised, law and order only exists in name. Papua New Guinea has a strong wantok system.