Lawyer’s assault warranted police action says Acting Deputy Commissioner Andrews

Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Operations Jim Andrews said yesterday the actions taken by Boroko police to arrest four detectives involved in the assault of lawyer Sam Bonner was necessary under the laws and functions of police, as Director of the Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate Mathew Damaru failed to comply with orders to bring the four suspects to Boroko for interviews and arrests.

Andrews said the remarks by Director of Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate Mathew Damaru on EMTV’s news telecast on Wednesday Oct 22 were "pathetic and misleading".

Andrews said Damaru had stated at his media conference that Bonner had refused arrest and therefore necessary force was applied to restrain and arrest him at the Waigani court premises, which was a misleading statement to the public.

 Andrews rebutted Damaru’s statement, saying Bonner was at the Waigani Court Premises in his gown when he was surrounded and assaulted by armed policemen several months ago.

 He said Bonner complained of serious assault in which he was scarred at the Boroko Police Station in the National Capital District. The matter was pursued by NCD police and four suspects were arrested at the office of the National Fraud and anti-Corruption directorate on Tuesday, which were normal follow-up arrests on the complaint laid.

Acting Deputy Commissioner Andrews said, “Damaru and the media are not the judge and juror to discuss how the assault happened. It is for the accused to prove that they acted within the confines of the law when the matter is heard in court.”