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State v Ase [2001] PGNC 20; N2220 (22 June 2001)

N2220

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

[IN THE NATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE]

CR 642 OF 2000

THE STATE

-V-

KORE ASE

Mt. Hagen : Jalina, J.
2001 : 20, 21 and 22 June

CRIMINAL LAW – Murder – Sentence – Plea of guilty – Deceased chopped with bushknife on head and neck – Attack upon receipt of news of deceased killing first cousin of prisoner – First offender – Provocation in the non-legal sense – Criminal Code s.300.

Counsel:

J. Waine for the State
P. N’dranoh for the Prisoner

22 June, 2001

JALINA, J. This prisoner has pleaded guilty to one count of murder which is an offence that carries a penalty of life imprisonment under s.300 of the Criminal Code Act subject to the court’s discretion to impose a lesser sentence.

Evidence shows that on the day of the offence someone told the prisoner that his first cousin had been killed by the deceased. He then took his bushknife and went looking for the deceased. When he met him he started chopping him with the bushknife.

The Medical Report of Thaddeus Khinah reveals the following injuries to the deceased’s body:

(a) The head was axed to pieces. The axe penetrated the skull bone and split the brain tissues.

(b) The left ear was chopped off.
(c) The second and third vertebra of the cervical region was completely chopped off and extended to the throat.
(d) The upper right thigh had deep lacerations with massive muscle and tissue destructions.

The cause of death was from massive destruction to the spinal cords, brain and severe bleeding from wounds and fractures.

In his statement on the allocutus he expressed remorse and said also that the deceased was a small brother to him but he killed him because he killed another small brother. He said that he had paid compensation of 2 pigs and K30.00 cash and that both deceaseds were buried in the same cemetery. It was what the deceased did that caused him to kill him.

The prisoner is aged about 32 years and is married with 2 children aged 3 and 4 years. He comes from Amboga Village in the Jimmy District of the Western Highlands Province but was living in the area where the crime was committed. He comes from a family of 3 children where he is the second born. He was educated to grade 6 and has no prior convictions.

The prisoner’s lawyer, Mr. N’dranoh has submitted that the sentence be between 8 and 12 years. He relied on the prisoner’s lack of prior convictions, his plea of guilty, his family being young and provocation in the non-legal sense. He relied on my decision is The State –v- Wa’amb Waitu Kamap an unreported National Court judgment in CR 51/2000 dated 14th June, 2000 in Wabag where I sentenced the prisoner to 12 years imprisonment for killing her husband’s pregnant lover who was having an affair with her husband. Mr. N’dranoh also relied on other cases I referred to in that judgment.

With respect, I am not prepared to accept the submission based on the above cases as the above case and the other cases I referred to all arose out of marital discord.

Furthermore, the present case, apart from Lawrence Simbu’s case, is distinguishable on the basis of the weapons used and the nature of the injuries inflicted. The medical report in the present case reveal injuries which were so severe that it reveals great determinations on the part of the prisoner to kill the deceased. The fact that the person killed by the deceased as well as the deceased being related to the prisoner did not seem to have deterred the prisoner from attacking and inflicting the injuries found by the doctor upon the deceased.

Whilst I have taken into account the prisoner’s personal antecedents, his plea of guilty, his expressive of remorse and provocation in the non-legal sense, I am concerned about the attacks in the manner the prisoner has done being prevalent in the highlands region and the need to deter such attacks.

I consider that a custodial sentence should be imposed. The sentence I consider appropriate in the circumstances of this particular case is a period of 15 years imprisonment in hard labour which I so impose bearing in mind that the maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment.

I deduct from that sentence the 1 year 6 months and 2 weeks he has spent in custody which leaves 13 years 5 months and 2 weeks in hard labour.
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Lawyer for the State : Public Prosecutor
Lawyer for the Prisoner : Public Solicitor