Port Moresby (The National) :A senior police officer who assaulted his wife, a fellow officer, has been given a suspended six-month jail term and fined K3,000.
Mt Hagen senior magistrate Jeremiah Singomat told Chief Insp Moses Kamyak that he was placing him on a two-year good behaviour bond on the condition that he did not drink alcohol and threaten or swear at his wife.
Kamyak will pay his wife, Sergeant Susanne Mondia, K1,500 as compensation for her injuries and K1,500 as court fine.
Kamyak and Mondia are police officers in Mt Hagen.
Singomatt said violence against women was one of the major issues in the country and the law would come down hard on offenders.
“The court here will make sure you follow this orders so that in future it will teach other police officers to respect the law and become role models,” Singomat said.
Mondia welcomed the court’s decision and described it as a breakthrough for policewomen.
She urged other wives to report violence against them by their husbands.
“This is a breakthrough for the wives of every disciplined force member to seek the law if they are treated like this,” she said.
“The law is there and I want every woman who is serving the disciplined forces or whose husbands are, to stand and fight for their rights.”
She said men must respect their spouses so that together they could raise their families.
Mondia was assaulted on July 31 while she was at home with her nine-year-old son. She sustained injuries to her right breast and face.
She is the officer in charge of community policing and received an award from the Australian council of women policing in 2010.