National Court of Papua New Guinea

It is now my responsibility to impentence upon you.

You have conceded a prior convictiviction for assault in which you were fined K250.00. Your lawyer hasrmed me thae that you and four other policemen assaulted a drunken person causing him injuries as a result. That prior conon apd to into involve a serious assault to warrant a substantial fine.

The circumstcumstances surrounding the commission of yffence are found in the evidence of witnesses given against you on the trial of wilful murd murder. Both you and your lawyer agreed those facts formed the basis for your change of plea to the lesser offence of murder. I wifer only fairly brieflrieflwhat I consider to be the general facts from the evidence.

During the period of July July to August, 1995 you were based at Kolantation with five other policemen following arrangement fent for police presence at the Plantation during the Coffee Season. ere in charge of the groupgroup and were issued an AR15 rifle. firearm went missing durinduring the period in question.&#1n the evening of 28 August, 1995 Issac Koke Lapa was detained upon suspicion that he had taad taken it. He was initially questiwith his hands tied to his his back by two of your members. Later tame evening, you brou brought a second suspect for interrog. Th suspects were also assa assaulted when they denied knowledge of the missing fire firearm. You over the interrog and and ed the suspects tcts to the open back of a police vehicle. You drove to various ious ious locations that night, stopping ocassiy in attempts to obtain their admissions at gunpoint. #160; Their hanre tied to t to their back and onto the vehicle frame with e for most part of the ride ride until the deceased said something about the missing gun. You returne suspects to thto the plann in the early hours of thef the next day where the second suspect was released. Your two constablesn joinejoined you in furtheerrogation of the deceased that morning. He was kickekicked and hit on the head with a hammer at the office. He was againin the vehand and driven to Kirmil Market by the three of e of you.

His hands were tied behind his back and onto the vehicle,nsurewould seem, he dihe did not escape or fall off from the moving vehicle. In that statestate, you hiat him on various parts of his body with a motor-bike helmet. You also attacked him with a rubber hose, described as black and big with a diameter of a3cm. He was described as very weak and appeared he would dild die from those beatings. The deceased aken to KimilKimil Health C and later to Kunjib Hospitospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Medical Report showed the deceased died from severe head y which appeared consistent with the history of being beatebeaten with a blunt object. Externalination revealed mled multiple blunt stick marks all over the chest, back of chest and back of scalp with blood soaked hair. Br were also seen on ther ther aspect of the left leg.

I accept that the deceasedeased was assaulted in the manner described by the eye-witnesses. I not ie in detail, the mahe manner in which you mistreated tted the deceased. There is nothing remarkaboe about them. It ificient tothat over 12er 12 hours, you detained the deceased without a charge, and subjectejected him to atrocious treatment. Bs phy injuand pains, I ha I have no doubt he also suff suffered from the cold temperatures of thof the highlands mountains that you expose to that night. You assaulted h full view view of the public at Koban Plantation.&#16. At Kimiket, you had him puim publicly displayed and flogged until he could barely sit up. At all times had his hands ands tied behind his back and denied him res sleep. I am satisfied that you were responsible pers personally and with the complicity of Senior Constable Apo and Constable for the beatings and other ther forms of mistreatment which accentuated in Isaac Koke Lapa’s death.

On any view of the episode, you unlawfully detained the deceased and literally tortured him to death. The disturbint about this this case is that you were a policemen, a law enforcement agent purportedly carrying out your duties. It would appo me that the the deceasedwas under the Constitution, innocent until proven guilty byty by a court of law was a man detained, tried and executed by his captors0; What happened to him at the hands of the prisoner and thnd the two constables where he was subjected to savage cruelty and treated as something less than human, was a flagrant violation of the National Constitution. As aceman, you were entrusntrusted with the fair treatment of a suspect under s. 42 of the Constitution. You breached that trust.>

I think it was an insor you to speak highly of Issac Koke Lapa as a good police lice informant after what you did to him. That view of him was incomle to your reckless behaviour which led to his death. #160; You showe no mercy.&#cy. You seemed quitignant for for the pad suffering being inflicted on him. In thhot, you showed complcompleted disregard ford for law and order and total disrespect tablisnstitutions chargcharged with the responsibility of adminisministering justice in an orderly society.

I understand police work and in particular, investigations are often difficult, frustrating and causes members much stress. This however does not empower members of a disciplined force to be laws unto themselves or take the law into their own hands. Violations of basic rigf the individual by such conduct as the prisoner’s only tarnish the good name of the the Police Force and undermine the effortthose policemen and policewomen who work hard to maintain the highest regard, respect and pand publicly support in police work.

You have asked a number of factors to be taken into account in your allocutus. I have cored those in addi addition to what your lawyer had submitted in mitigation.

You are aged 38 years old and had served in the Police Force for 16 years.&#1ne could say that bespeaks of good character. Your prur prior ction howe however showed that you have an inclination towards violence. This is supported by thdenvidence that you and your police members had during the period in question detained a nuof robbery suspects and subd subjected them to beatings before releasing them without charges. Your y will suffer as a re a result of your conviction. Your future yment in the Fthe Force and your financial commitments will also be affected. Those uunately ar sad cons consequences of your actions which you you should have considered when you set out on the path of constitutional viols of the deceased’s basic rights.

Your intentions to retrieve a State propertyperty may have been honourable. HoweI am satisfied that yoat your deliberate and unlawful interrogations and assaults resulted in a crime, the seriousness of which flected in the penal servitude of life imprisonment under the Criminal Code.

As I ha I have earlier stated you seemed to have little respect for the law or any sense of the value of human life. You must understand the sohe society which this court represents does not tolerate police atrocities and other forms of brutality which undermine the process of justice that are cruco its survival and to the safety of law abiding members of s of the public.

I have had regard also to your plea of guilty. But it was apparent your change of plea was made only after the evidence of the beatings and injuries sustained became overwhelming on the trial of wilful murder. There is no basis to say that time and expenses were not lost to the State.

Your case has caused me some difficulty when I consider sentence. There are substantial considerations for and against the imposition substantial sentence. HowevHowever, after taking into account all of the matters some of which I have adverted in an attempt to achieve a proper synthesis, I concluded that a substantial sentence must be imposed on you.

You are sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment for eight (8) years in hard labour.

I recommend that ex-gratia payment be made by the State for the wrongful death of the deceased Isaac Koke Lapa.

I recommend also that any policemen implicated in this case be dealt with in accordance with due process of law.

Bail of K400.00 be refunded.

Lawyer for the State: Public Prosecutor

Lawyer for the Accused: A Public Solicitor