Beon guards refuse to escort Kapris

Warders want payment

 

By JAYNE SAFIHAO

 

DISGRUNTLED prison officers at Beon Jail in Madang are refusing to provide armed escort to Papua New Guinea’s most infamous prisoner William Kapris Nanua, when he appears this week in the Madang National Court in relation to a Bank South Pacific armed robbery charge, The National reports.

The Correctional Services officers started their sit-in protest last Wednesday after word got out that the 11-strong CS contingent from Port Moresby, which had arrived three days earlier to provide extra security during the trial, had been paid ahead of them.

They told their bosses during a near-confrontation at Beon that they would not provide the armed escort for Kapris and his alleged accomplices unless they were assured of payment this week.

The good news, according to a senior officer yesterday, was that CS Commissioner Richard Sikani had given an undertaking that these officers would be paid this week.

Escorted by armed guard or not, Kapris and his co-accused are due to appear today before Justice David Cannings to enter a no-case submission. It is understood that a decision is expected by the end of the week.

Kapris, a convicted rapist and habitual prison escapee, had been charged with a serious of bank robberies, including the BSP Madang branch in which more than K2 million was stolen on July 25, 2008.

Last Wednesday, tempers flared which nearly turned into a fist fight between the warders and their bosses over outstanding administrative issues regarding delayed overtime and operation allowances for guarding Kapris and his co-accused.