The Coroner’s inquest into the 5 missing IMR scientists has finally ended its almost 3 month inquiry and the findings will be presented this Thursday in Port Moresby.
The presentation is to provide an account of the findings of the individual scientists from the investigation that was conducted by the coronial inquest team.
Included in the research and findings are the two other male persons, who were on board the boat when it disappeared.
The findings to be presented are from 54 witnesses who testified during the coronial inquest in West New Britain where the scientists went missing, Manus, where the skipper’s decomposed body was found, and Wewak, where the boat was found and Port Moresby.
The 54 witnesses were summoned to appear before the inquest team during their visits to each province.
Coroner and Principal Magistrate at the Waigani District Court, Lawrence Kangwia who led the coronial team, said that although they went beyond the scheduled time of 60 days to carry out the inquest, it wasn’t as easy as one would think.
He said most of the witnesses interviewed had fading memories of what they had seen and could not recount some of the events, causing a huge impact on their findings.
He also said that after they had concluded their inquest outside Port Moresby and were back in the nation’s capital, new evidence surfaced from Kimbe and they had to move in again to reassess that.
Mr Kangwia says that despite the many people who have gone missing in PNG in different ways, coronial inquests are hardly conducted, making this one a tough one.
The Department of Prime Minister and NEC funded the inquest with K700, 000 and the team was able to make a saving of K200, 000.
The findings of the coroner into the five missing IMR scientists will be presented here at the Muruk Haus on Thursday.
Two and half years on, relatives will finally get to hear what happened to their loved ones this thursday.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=1MaM3mkSS10%3Ffeature%3Doembed%26wmode%3Dopaque%26showinfo%3D0%26showsearch%3D0%26rel%3D0
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