RULING on an application the prosecution made to re-open their case in the trial of a man accused of stealing a laptop and mobile phones worth more than $11,000 will be handed down possibly this Friday.
The prosecution made the application in order to call some more witnesses based on fresh evidences the accused, Martin Pola Nehemiah, gave in court.
Nehemiah is on trial for three counts of simple larceny.
The prosecution had closed their case after calling four witnesses.
For the defence case, Nehemiah gave some evidences that were new to the prosecution.
In light of that, the prosecution made an application to re-open their case and to call the people that the accused mentioned their names.
The presiding magistrate will give his ruling on this application before the trial proceeds further.
Police charged Nehemiah for allegedly stealing four mobile phones and a laptop from Smart Technology shop in China Town.
It was alleged he went to the shop and by introducing himself to the shop’s Managing Director as the President of the Christian Education Schools of Solomon Islands (ACESSI), he made an agreement with him.
It was for Nehemiah to collect items from the shop and those items will be paid by the ACESSI when the school grants are available.
Nehemiah then allegedly on three occasions between 28 February 2019 and 28 March 2019 went to the shop and collected a total of four mobile phones and a net book laptop.
The mobile phones each costed $2,250 and the laptop, $2,850.
Few months later, the complainant made several attempts to contact Nehemiah through mobile phone but he would reply negatively.
The complainant even gave Nehemiah a grace period of 12 months in 2020 for him to make the payments for the items but he failed to make any payments.
Nehemiah was arrested after the complainant lodged a complaint to the police.
Deputy Public Solicitor, Martha Manaka represents Nehemiah, whilst Police Prosecutor, Watson Akwai, appears for the Crown.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
Solomon Star, Honiara
