Papua New Guinea's sidelined petroleum minister, Jimmy Maladina, has pleaded not guilty in a Sydney court to a domestic assault offence.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Ymir Maladina was arrested on Saturday in Bondi after police were called to an address
00:06on Imperial Avenue over reports of a domestic dispute.
00:10Now there, officers spoke to a 31-year-old woman who had facial injuries.
00:14The allegation is that those injuries were caused by a 58-year-old Mr Maladina, who is
00:19known to that woman.
00:21Now he was arrested and charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm after being
00:26taken to Waverley Police Station behind me.
00:29He had his first court appearance today and like most first appearances it was relatively
00:33brief.
00:34It was over in a matter of minutes.
00:36But his lawyer, Margaret Caneen SC, did say to court that he will be pleading not guilty
00:41and the case was adjourned until next week.
00:44As he left court, Mr Maladina made no comments, although he did get a lot of questions from
00:48the media.
00:49Mr Maladina, will you resign from the PNG government?
00:53Will you be pleading today?
00:54What are your response to the allegations of domestic violence?
00:58Now next week the case will move to the Downing Centre in Sydney's CBD and next week a mention
01:03of the case will involve a hearing date being set.
01:07It's still unclear when that hearing might take place because it can depend on the court
01:11calendar and availability, although Ms Caneen did say today that the hearing itself isn't
01:16expected to take more than a day, so that might speed things up in terms of court availability.
01:22Although he made no comment today, Mr Maladina did issue a statement after this allegation
01:26came to light and he said he was co-operating with authorities and understands the gravity
01:31of the situation.
01:33In that statement he also said I want to make it clear violence of any form is unacceptable
01:38and I am committed to handling this situation with integrity and transparency.
01:43He's also offered to temporarily stand aside while this case makes its way through the
01:48Australian courts.
01:49That didn't appear to be enough though for the PNG opposition, which has issued calls
01:54for Mr Maladina to be sacked from Cabinet or resign.
01:58For now though, the 58-year-old will remain on conditional bail until his case returns
02:02to court next week.