SYDNEY — Papua New Guinea’s sidelined Petroleum Minister Jimmy Maladina pleaded not responsible in a Sydney courtroom Thursday to a cost of assaulting a lady throughout a home dispute.
His lawyer Margaret Cunneen entered the plea on his behalf throughout his transient look in Waverley Native Court docket. Neither Maladine nor Cuneen made a press release to media ready exterior courtroom.
Police allege he assaulted a 31-year-old lady Saturday at an tackle in close by Bondi in Sydney’s costly japanese suburbs and he or she suffered facial accidents. A conviction on the cost of assault leading to bodily hurt might carry a possible most sentence of 5 years in jail.
Maladina, 58, stays free on bail with restrictions on contact with the lady however there are not any bail circumstances that might forestall him from leaving Australia. Maladina will seem in courtroom subsequent on July 17 when a Justice of the Peace will set a listening to date.
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape introduced on Wednesday that Power Minister Thomas Opa had taken over the petroleum portfolio since Maladina had stepped down through the courtroom course of. He stays a authorities lawmaker.
International authorities ministers can declare immunity from legal prosecution in Australia if they’re visiting on enterprise. However there is no such thing as a immunity for personal visits.
The Related Press requested the Papua New Guinea Excessive Fee in Australia on Tuesday whether or not Maladina was visiting on official enterprise however obtained no reply.
Papua New Guinea is Australia’s nearest neighbor and an Australian colony till independence in 1975.
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Related Press writers Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, and Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia, contributed to this report.
