Neu: 2001-08-21 Contents of this issue: 1. System Slammed ======================================================================== August 21st, 2001 1. System Slammed: Niue's Opposition figure and former cabinet minister Veve Jacobsen has today slammed the Minister of Police and Justice, Matua Bob Rex, the Government and officials for the island's weak justice system. She told Pacific correspondent John Andrews that the Niue prison where an inmate was fatally shot by a warder last week was "a real farce." The prison which was run by the local police up to last year is now administered by the Justice Department. Its a small "open" jail with minimal security. Some prisoners are allowed to spend weekends with their family to assist with work in the plantations. There are now two prisoners in custody charged with murder - a 57 year old prisoner warder and a 41 year old Tongan planter accused of fatally shooting a woman relative 10 months ago. "If there are no [prison] bars, you put them in. It doesn't take a year to put bars and a toilet in. One man [accused of murder] is wandering around outside and one is locked up. That's hypocrisy. It's a real farce," she said. The Tongan charged with last year's murder was allowed to wander about the island planting watermelons and cabbages, she said. __END__
