THE youngest daughter of Governor General Sir Frank Kabui was fined $5000 on Friday for assaulting a police woman.
Amelia Kabui, 22, also luckily escaped jail terms imposed on her for other related offences after they were fully suspended in court.
Chief Magistrate John Numapo also ordered Ms Kabui to enter into a good behaviour bond for a period of 12 months with a surety of $1000.
He then ordered that her passport which was seized from her to be returned to her.
Ms Kabui had pleaded guilty to the charges of assault on police officer, obstructing police officers in execution of duty and offensive behaviour on police premises.
The incident occurred at around 11pm on June 30th at the Town Council roundabout.
Mr Numapo in his sentencing remarks said Ms Kabui’s actions and conduct on that night in question was totally uncalled for and unwarranted, to say the least.
“You acted irrationally towards an unprovoked situation.
“Being drunk is not a good excuse and is not a defence in court,” Mr Numapo told her.
He said Ms Kabui brought this upon herself and she should take full responsibility of her own actions.
He added that as an intelligent university student she should know the consequences of her own action and behave responsibly and set an example for others.
“Your unruly behaviour has brought shame and embarrassment not only to yourself but also to your family and to your people given the standing in your family in the country.
“We are fortunate to live in a country where police officers exercise restraint and performed their duties according to law.
“In other countries police officers would have reacted strongly and with brutal force if one of them is attacked and you don’t have to look far to know what I am talking about,” Mr Numapo said.
Mr Numapo then told her that he has a choice between sending her to prison or consider other non-custodial sentence.
“Today, you can thank your lucky stars because I have decided not to give you custodial sentence,” Chief Magistrate Numapo said.
The reasons outline by Mr Numapo for not sending Ms Kabui to prison are that;
– she entered early guilty pleas to the charges against her,
– she expressed her remorse and apologized for her behaviour,
– she has paid a compensation to the policewoman she assaulted and a reconciliation was done.
He further added that the case was widely published and attracted a lot of media attention which caused her and her family great embarrassment.
“In my view, you and your family have suffered considerably from public humiliation as a result of this incident.
“I do not wish to prolong this suffering further,” the Chief Magistrate said.
Mr Numapo told Ms Kabui that “as human beings we are bound to make mistakes and cross that red-line at some stages of our lives and learn from those mistakes and change for the better and become good citizens of our country”.
Therefore, he said he wanted to give her that opportunity to change for the better.
“I am confident that you will become a good law abiding citizen after this experience and with your university education contribute meaningfully to the development of your country,” he said.
A 12 months imprisonment was imposed for the charge of obstructing police officers in execution of duty and another two months imprisonment imposed for the charge of offensive behaviour on police premises.
These two custodial sentences were however wholly suspended at the rising of the court but she was fined $5000 for the assault on the police officer.
A police patrol stopped the vehicle the accused was travelling in at the Town Council bus stop.
This was after they observed the vehicle swaying dangerously along the lanes between Bahai and Chinatown.
The accused confronted the officers when they went to inquire and started scolding and swearing at the police officers.
She then directed her anger towards a police woman and punched her on the chest.
The argument continued for a while and in the process the driver of the vehicle escaped.
The accused was taken to the Central Police Station where she continued with abusive words and threatening words at police officers.
Ms Kabui is represented by private lawyer Andrew Radclyffe while prosecuting her case is Police Prosecutor Elson Konle.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
