Court clears Pang of rape charge

May 4, 2023Main Stories

By BEVERLY PETER
NATIONAL Court has acquitted Sanctuary Hotel operations manager Jamie Pang of a rape charge, saying there was no legal standing in it as force was not used in the alleged offence.
Judge George Manuhu when ruling on Pang’s no-case application at Waigani yesterday, said he assessed Maki Jack’s conduct at that time from her place in Vadavada to Sanctuary Hotel that it did not demonstrate lack of consent.
Manuhu said Jack did not refuse when her friend Belcey told her to stay in the hotel with Pang and left.
“She would have known as it was obvious that sex was on the table. Any reasonable person on the street of Port Moresby would have agreed to this consolation. If Maki did not want sex, she had the opportunity to leave the room but she did not,” he said.
Manuhu said the State had proven beyond reasonable doubt of the evidence of the allegations that there was no issue with Pang’s identification but the only issue was whether there was consent or not.
He said at Vadahvadah, Belcey told Jack that they were going to have drinks with her friend Leon and another man at a hotel and Jack insisted to go when her guardians said she could not go out.
“Pang did not lie to her about the substance (cocaine) in the pipe when he gave it to her to smoke, she was educated enough to know that if she took it, she would be affected, but she chose to consume it,” he said.
“She wasn’t forced, why should it be held against Pang, there is no legal standing in it.”
Manuhu said when Jack was alone in the room with Pang, she was asked to move closer to him and she didn’t refuse.
“She obliged. She then inhaled substance which was cocaine then took her bath. If this was a movie, the viewers would have expected a sex scene,” he said.