Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback National Court of Papua New Guinea

State v Siwi [2003] PGNC 60; N2443 (30 July 2003)

N2443

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

[IN THE NATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE]

CR 1100 of 2003

THE STATE

-V-

PETER KORAK SIWI

Mt. Hagen: Jalina J
2003: 9 & 30 July

CRIMINAL LAW – Murder – Sentence – Plea of Guilty to stabbing wife once with dagger-like knife – First Offender – Expressed Remorse – Criminal Code s. 300.

Cases cited:
Simbe –v- The State, [1994] PNGLR 38,
The State –v- Peter Plesman and Paul Moaina, an Unreported National Court Judgment No. N1657 dated 30th October 1997
The State –v- Haihavu Kori Kaiks, an Unreported National Court decision dated 21st April 1998,
Jeffrey Harold Malepo –v- The State, an Unreported Supreme Court Judgment dated 13th December 2000,
Sap James Kumbapen –v- The State, (SCRA 14 of 2001), an Unreported Supreme Court judgment dated 26th April 2001,
The State –v- Kore Ase, an Unreported National Court Judgment N2220 and dated 22nd June 2001.

Counsel:
J. Waine for the State
P. Kumo for the Prisoner

30 July 2003

JALINA J: You have pleaded guilty to a charge that on the 19th day of February 2003 at Karkopi Plantation, Warakar in the Banz area of the Western Highlands Province you murdered one Taulopa Elasto who was your wife.

It appears from the facts put to the court for purposes of arraignment and from evidence of witnesses, that prior to 19th February 2003 the deceased left the matrimonial home which was in your village and went to her village with her school-aged son as a result of a serious assault by you upon her.

On 19th February you left your village and went to her village with the view to bringing her and the son back. Upon arrival you saw her doing her laundry and requested her to accompany you but she responded saying that she would return with you but she had to do her laundry first.

You then became impatient and grabbed hold of the son intending to take him back to your village because he was missing school. The son screamed and struggled so you let him go.

Meanwhile, a relative of your deceased wife suggested that you and your wife should settle your problems to which the deceased said that she had ran away to her village in fear of her life in view of your violent conduct.

Then a little later you went over to where the deceased was doing her laundry and a struggle ensued between you and the deceased. In the course of the struggle you pulled out a dagger-like knife from under your shirt and stabbed the deceased on her left back. She fell to the ground and died from loss of blood from the injury you had inflicted.

The Medical Report shows a single penetrating wound to the upper outer part of back of her chest and measuring 6 cm in distance with the exit wound near the right armpit and measuring 2 cm. The upper lobe of the left lung had completely collapsed. The cause of death was penetrating wound with massive haemorrhage and lung collapse.

The location of the point of entry of the sharp dagger-like instrument and it’s exit being near the right armpit, shows that the weapon must have been long and that it was applied with great force and determination.

The maximum penalty for murder is life imprisonment under s.300 of the Criminal Code Act subject to the Court’s discretion to impose a lesser sentence under s. 19 of the Code. The prescription by the legislature of the penalty of life imprisonment reflects the seriousness with which it viewed this crime. Such a penalty no doubt reflects the importance the legislature has placed on the sanctity of human life. So to reflect the seriousness of such a crime the courts have exercised their sentencing discretion under s. 19 by the imposition of long periods of imprisonment.

For instance in Simbe –v- The State, [1994] PNGLR 38, the 14 year sentence imposed on the appellant who killed the deceased with a bush knife instantly when he saw the deceased enticing his wife into having sex with him was found by the Supreme Court not to be excessive.

In The State –v- Peter Plesman and Paul Moaina, an Unreported National Court Judgment No. N1657 dated 30th October 1997 Batari, AJ. (as he then was) sentenced the prisoners to 25 years imprisonment for the murder of brothers Ephraim Makis and Albert Uming inside their residential area. Ephraim Makis was shot at point blank range and Albert Uming was stabbed in the back several times.

In The State –v- Haihavu Kori Kaiks, an Unreported National Court decision dated 21st April 1998, Los, J. imposed 23 years imprisonment on the prisoner who scaled the walls to the 4th floor of the Lodge Apartment, Hunter Street in Port Moresby and stabbed a geologist to death in the presence of his wife inside their apartment. In imposing the sentence the trial judge stressed that the offence was committed after invasion of the deceased’s private home or dwelling which was in effect done in breach of the deceased’s right to privacy of his home which was guaranteed under the Constitution.

In Jeffrey Harold Malepo –v- The State, an Unreported Supreme Court Judgment dated 13th December 2000, the Supreme Court dismissed the appellant’s appeal against a sentence of life imprisonment for murder. In that case the deceased was killed when she was tangled in the seatbelt of her vehicle and was dragged along the bitumen road for three Kilometres after her vehicle was taken from her by the prisoner and his colleagues.

Her body was badly mutilated. In dismissing the appeal against sentence of life imprisonment, the Supreme Court accepted that the murder in those circumstances was among the "worst murder" case.

In Sap James Kumbapen –v- The State, (SCRA 14 of 2001), an Unreported Supreme Court judgment dated 26th April 2001, the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal against both conviction and sentence of life imprisonment for murder where the appellant chopped the deceased with a bushknife after gaining entry into the residence where the deceased was staying that night with his brother after falsely pretending that he was being chased by some people from four –mile near Kainantu in the Eastern Highlands Province.

In The State –v- Kore Ase, an Unreported National Court judgment N2220 and dated 22nd June 2001, I sentenced the prisoner to 15 years imprisonment for murdering the deceased by chopping him on the head, neck and other parts of the deceased’s body with a bushknife.

The above cases clearly demonstrate the seriousness with which both the National and Supreme Courts view the crime of murder.

In considering the penalty I should impose, I have taken into account the provisions of the Criminal Law (Compensation) Act 1991 and am of the view that compensation is not an appropriate penalty for the crime of murder. In fact, in my view, compensation should not be the penalty for any offence of homicide where weapons are used or where human life is lost through some deliberate act of another person except in wholly exceptional circumstances.

I have also taken into account in deciding the penalty I should impose your statement on the allocutus which included your expression of remorse, your personal antecedents and the submissions made by your lawyer in mitigation of sentence.

I consider you in this case to have been a violent person. Your violent conduct caused the deceased to flee to her village in fear for her life. Then on that fateful day, you had not only gone to her village to ask her to return to the matrimonial home but you went armed with a dagger-like knife concealed in your shirt to use against your wife if she did not comply with your demand. And you used the knife against your wife without the slightest hesitation.

The sentence I therefore consider appropriate in all the circumstances is a period of imprisonment of 16 years in hard labour bearing in mind that you pleaded guilty in addition to the other mitigating factors put to the court by Defence Counsel.

I deduct from that sentence the 5 months and 2 weeks you have spent in custody which leaves 15 years 6 months and 2 weeks you have to serve in hard labour.
_______________________________________________________________________
Lawyer for the State : Public Prosecutor
Lawyer for the Prisoner : Public Solicitor