Prosecutors drop assault charge against Papua New Guinea minister

Papua New Guinea lawmaker and reinstated petroleum minister Jimmy Maladina arrives at a court in Sydney, yesterday

Australian prosecutors yesterday dropped a charge against a Papua New Guinea government minister accused of assaulting a woman in Sydney.

Petroleum Minister Jimmy Maladina had pleaded not guilty to the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The charge carries a potential maximum of five years in prison.

Prosecutors withdrew the charge in a Sydney court, where the 58-year-old had appeared to deny the allegation that he attacked a 31-year-old woman on July 6 last year at an address near Bondi Beach in the city’s expensive eastern suburbs, court records show.

Maladina was seen smiling with his lawyer, Margaret Cunneen, after a magistrate dismissed the charge.

He did not speak to waiting media as he left the court. Asked for comment, Cunneen told The Associated Press the result “speaks for itself.”

“He remains a person of good character with no criminal record,” she told the AP in a text.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Maladina being cleared.

Days after the alleged incident, Marape announced that Energy Minister Thoms Opa had taken over the important petroleum portfolio in the energy-rich South Pacific island nation because Maladina had stepped down during the court process.

Three months later, Marape announced Maladina had been reinstated to the cabinet on legal advice.

“Jimmy Maladina has been restored to the petroleum ministry to continue the work in the petroleum sector. This is happening in consultation with legal advice we have received,” Marape told Papua New Guinea’s Post-Courier newspaper in October last year.

Foreign government ministers can claim immunity from criminal prosecution in Australia if they are visiting on business. But there is no immunity for private visits.

Cunneen said the visit had been private to see his children and that Maladina had no immunity against prosecution at the time.

Papua New Guinea is Australia’s nearest neighbor and was an Australian colony until independence in 1975.MDT/AP