Miss PNG murder case adjourned again

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Miss PNG murder case adjourned again

PORT MORESBY: The Supreme Court has directed the public prosecutor and public solicitor’s offices to locate necessary documents to assist with the appeal of a man convicted of killing his former partner and former Miss Papua New Guinea Ruby-Anne Laufa in 2017.

Justice David Cannings in Waigani also made another direction when noting that the pre-sentence report for Richard Namaliu, convicted of manslaughter as well as other written submissions on the sentence and a warrant of commitment in the National Court, had not been included.

The National reported the court proceedings:

Namaliu case adjourned again

December 20, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By CLARISSA MOI
THE Supreme Court has directed the public prosecutor and public solicitor’s offices to locate necessary documents to assist with the appeal of a man convicted of killing his partner and former Miss PNG Ruby-Anne Laufa in 2017.
Justice David Cannings, presiding in Waigani yesterday, made another direction when noting that the pre-sentence report for Richard Namaliu convicted of manslaughter, as well as other written submissions on the sentence and a warrant of commitment in the National Court, had not been included. Last month when the matter came to court, Justice Cannings said those were critical documents, however, the matter could proceed to a hearing of Namaliu’s appeal against his 15-year sentence.
Namaliu’s lawyer Justina Bibilo, from the Office of the Public Solicitor, had asked the court to allow them extra time to locate the said documents for inclusion. The court agreed and fixed Dec 19 for the matter to return for a further directions hearing.
When the matter returned yesterday (Dec 19), the court again noted that those documents were still not included to complete the review book. Justice Cannings then adjourned the matter to Feb 2 for a further directions hearing.
Namaliu, of Vunapope village in Kokopo, East New Britain, was convicted of manslaughter for causing Laufa’s death, by punching her and forcing her to jump out of a car he was driving on Feb 11, 2017. Namaliu’s initial appealed against his conviction in July was dismissed by the Supreme Court which held that all its grounds had failed.
The new application for a review of sentence was filed on Aug 8.
On Aug 16, leave was granted to Namaliu for a review of his 15-year manslaughter sentence, which he claimed was excessive.

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