Gaoled For Ill-Treating
p. 21 · Read in the full issue
Native
From Our Own Correspondent
Port Moresby, July 4.
PATROL Officer. Roy Edwards, was sentenced to six months gaol in the Supreme Court at Port Moresby on June 29 for staging a mock burial with a native as the “body..”
Edwards made a native named Kou Geru lie in the ojoen grave of a native girl, then covered him with banana leaves.
He would not let Kou Geru get up for some minutes. The native girl’s grave
ha d been opened earlier by an unknown person who took away her head.
Edwards alleged that Kou Geru had confessed to murdering the girl. How ever, he denied having made Kou Geru lie in the grave. Edwards, who faced six assault charges, was acquitted on the re maining five. These related to allegations by Kou Geru that Edwards slapped his face, made him climb a pole then had a fire lit under the pole.
Edwards described the charges as a “frame up.” He said Kou Geru had made up the story in an effort to escape the consequences of his own crime. Edwards said he arrested Kou Geru during a five months’ patrol from Goilala. Judge Big nold presided over the hearing.