Hefty jail sentences for killers in Papua New Guinea

 News that matter in Papua New Guinea


Hefty jail sentences for killers in Papua New Guinea

PORT MORESBY: Three men were jailed for life, and another for 25 years, as two judges strongly condemned the killing of people by those who believed in sorcery executions.

For the past month, some half a dozen cases of violence have been condemned by judges who imposed heavy and long term sentences on those found guilty as a deterrent to others who worship violence of any kind.

Details of the latest two sentences were reported by The National:

Long jail terms for killers

August 16, 2021The NationalMain Stories

By BOURA GORUKILA
THREE men were jailed for life, and another for 25 years, as two judges strongly condemned the killing of people because of sorcery-related beliefs.
In the National Court in Port Moresby, Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika, sentenced Saku Dove, 30, Skoke Kuruka, 28, and Damare Ipi, 28, to life imprisonment, saying wilful murder was the most serious of homicides.
The three had participated in a sorcery-related killing that claimed two lives in the National Capital District in 2016.
In the National Court in Lae, Justice Lawrence Kangwia, sentenced Gad Yakapous, 31, to 25 years in jail for a sorcery-related killing (see separate story).
Justice Sir Gibbs said such killings involved “not just merely taking the life of another person, but it is willed and intentional. Each of you played an equal role in the murders”.
“It is an arguable preposition to consider imposing the death penalty. However, I will not impose the death penalty in this case for reasons that their belief in sorcery may have resulted in what they did for the benefit of the community,” he said.
Dove, Kuruka and Ipi are all from Lufa’s Kunugu village in Eastern Highlands. They had entered a mourning house (hauskrai) in Badili’s Muniogo Block on Oct 17, 2016, and pulled Solomon Benny and Ine Benny out of the gate into the dark and killed them. They used bush knives to immobilise them and chopped them up.
They then wrapped up the bodies in canvas and left. Solomon and Ine were with the people of Kunugu village gathering to raise cash contributions from family, friends and relatives to send two of their deceased elders home to Goroka for burial. The elders had died two weeks earlier and their bodies were to be flown home.

 

Man gets 25 years for murder

August 16, 2021The NationalMain Stories

By JIMMY KALEBE
A 31-YEAR-OLD man was jailed 25 years by the National Court in Lae for a sorcery-related killing in August 2014.
Justice Lawrence Kangwia, in sentencing Gad Yakapus from East Sepik on July 22, said such killings originated from a belief and not based on evidence.
“It is a brutal killing arising from a belief in sorcery. Such beliefs, in my view, are founded on a twisted manufacture of blame on sorcery over an earlier death, which is totally amiss of the naked eye,” he said.
Justice Kangwia said Christianity had been unable to influence or convince people to stop believing in sorcery.
“It seems the churches have left it to the Government to act,” he said.
Justice Kangwia viewed the killing as analogous to a payback killing, ignited by vengeance.
“A clear warning must be sent that belief in sorcery is no justification to end another person’s life,” he said.
“It should not and must not operate as a factor in favour of an offender in sentencing.
“Courts are now treating sorcery-related killings as any other homicide cases.”
The court was told that on Aug 24, 2014, Yakapus and another person walked straight to the victim and while calling him a sorcerer, swung a bush knife and slashed the deceased twice on his neck and head in the Biwat Compound.
Submissions from the defence counsel suggested for a not so crushing sentence, taking into consideration the mitigating factors of being a first-time offender, pleading guilty at the first instance, showing remorse and that he had paid K20,000 as compensation.
State counsel submitted that sorcery-related killing was prevalent in society and was a breach of the right to life under Section 35 of the Constitution.
The counsel submitted that a custodial sentence of 20 to 30 years would be appropriate.
From the total 25 years, Yakapus will have time spent in custody deducted and the balance spent with hard labour in Buimo Prison.

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