Unreported National Court Decisions
N250
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
[NATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE]
STATE
V
HENRY OPU
Lae
Narokobi AJ
8 August 1980
SENTENCE
NAROKOBI AJ:  I have heard your lawyer, Mr. Glasgow speak for you. He spoke well of you and put to me everything that he could have put to me, to help you. In particular, he has put the following matters on your behalf:
(1)      You have, all along helped the police and came before this court and said in effect “yes I have done wrong. I am prepared to accept my punishment:”
(2)      Your family background. You had a lot of work to do and a large family to look after. You felt that your contribution to your employer, entitled you to more than what you were earning.
(3)      The way you went about stealing was not clever at all. It was, in Mr. Glasgow’s words, a clumsy stealing. Yours was not a sophisticated way of stealing.
(4)      Up until this time, you have been a good man. You have worked well to bring your family up, and you have had no trouble in your life before.
(5)      You seem to me to have displayed an attitude of a genuine man, a simple man. You worked after working hours and asked to be remunerated. Your efforts, it seems were not rewarded. You therefore felt you were entitled to reward yourself as if it were.
No doubt if the hours you worked were counted and valued, some of this money could have been money you would have well earned.
(6)      I take note too of the fact that you have had a resonable education and that you have a wife and four children with the fifth on the way in December.
This is the third case in Lae this month that I have had to deal with, concerning public servants stealing from the Government. My heart is troubled about what I should do with you. It is not necessary for me to lecture you, because you are a mature man. And you know well the seriousness of your actions.
An adult first offender with a good past record is a hard person to sentence. A man with a good family background is expected to be a good man. And when he does something wrong, like breaking the law, everyone is surprised. In appropriate cases, an adult first offender’s actions may be taken as the “result of a deliberate conscious choice made with full appreciation of the significance of his action” (p. 29 D.A. Thomas “Principles of Sentencing”).
(7)      I note that you will lose your public service job and your status in the service, as well as the security that goes with it.
But, you must accept that it is your own doing that causes this.
(8)      Your family will certainly suffer, whatever punishment I impose on you.
(9)      You have also made an effort to repay, even though that effort was rejected by your employer.
It is hard to work out what is the correct sentence to impose on you. I cannot possibly give you a bond because the total amount involved is quite large. Besides, when a good and honest man breaks the trust placed in him by the public, even in the tempting position you held, everyone despairs. If a good man goes that way, what else can be expected of those with lesser advantages?
In cases like this, good character is a mitigating factor; but on its own it cannot possibly bring a custodial sentence to the lower range of the mid-tariff sentence imposed in similar cases.
The legislature has not been helpful to tell me what is the most suitable sentence. I have to look at what my brother judges have imposed in similar cases and decide on what sentence would best relate to your own circumstances.
Looking at the cases decided over the last six months, I see that for the sum of money in your type of a case, the highest sentence was imposed in July 1980 on Reuben Baiko Giwanda, for 2 years by Bredmeyer A.J. The prisoner in that case stole K3,560 over a period of 3 months.
I note against you that the period of stealing in your case was 9 months. However, I note the other factors in your favour. You have pleaded guilty.
In May of 1980 Andrew J. sentenced an employee with Posts and Telegraphs, Gilchrist Kalo to a term of 15 months for stealing registered letters with K670.00. That man was aged 23 and the P. & T. Department has repaid the victims.
George Norm Manman was sentenced in that same month for stealing K436.22, to 9 months and in Port Moresby Abau Maeva was sentenced to 12 months to be reduced to 9 months if money stolen was repaid. K800 was stolen in that case. Abau had no previous convictions and four children.
In June, at Madang, a Manus man was sentenced to 18 months for stealing K500 and the judge said if he could repay K500, the sentence would be reduced to 9 months.
So, you can see that I will really have to think about a range between 9 months and 2 years.
I note that you have been charged with, and convicted of 3 counts of stealing, amounting to K384.60 toea. What it means is that the 19 matters I take into account are not convictions against you. You will not in future be dealt with or punished again for these matters. I didn’t have to take these matters into account. But I think, in this case, following the general practice, it is proper to do so. I also note that you have readily admitted to these matters. I note a deep sense of remorse and shame you now experience.
Mr. Henry Opu, the things that have moved me in your favour, I have mentioned. I have also mentioned the things I consider against you. The main ones are deterrence which arises out of my duty to the public. I am punishing you, to tell you clearly that as a public servant you must not breach the trust the citizens of this land place on you. I note too that the stealing was deliberate and continuous for a period of 9 months. Fortunately no students suffered, and your stealing was unsophisticated.
But, I do note that you are a good man, with a young family. I am sorry that your family will have to suffer because of your absence. I am satisfied, you succumbed to temptation, you are not a robber.
I would sentence you to imprisonment with hard labour, for 16 months. I had considered the possibility of making an order for reduction of sentence on repayment of the money, but that would impose unnecessary hardship on the family.
Solicitor for the State: C. Maino-Aoae, Public Prosecutor.
Counsel: B. Cassells.
Solicitor for the Defendant: D.J. McDermott, A/Public Solicitor.
Counsel: I. Glasgow.