State v Uwaip [1990] PGNC 21; N830 (3 April 1990)

Unreported National Court Decisions

N830

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

[NATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE]
THE STATE
V.
UWAIP PIKAI
YAOW PIKAI
AWAIP PIKAI OF AMBI SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS PROVINCE

Mendi

Hinchliffe J
2-3 April 1990

CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence - Wilful Murder - Innocent victims - Child murder - Life sentences appropriate even though first offenders without prior convictions.

The three accused were brothers. One’s wife deserted him for another man and because of that the three went to her brothers house. One killed him and his one year old daughter and the other two then killed his wife.

Held:

The first accused was convicted and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment in hard labour.

The other two accused were convicted and sentenced to one term of life imprisonment in hard labour.

Counsel:

J. Wala for the State.

W. Boi for the Accused.

Sentence

One accused pleaded guilty to two counts of wilful murder and the others pleaded guilty to one count of wilful murder.

Cur adv vult.

3 April 1990

HINCHLIFFE J: Uwaipi and Yaow Pikai you you have pleaded guilty that on the 20th July, 1989 at Ambi you did wilfully murder Tale Pakapuan.

Pikai you have pleaded guilty to two counts of wilful murder on the 20th July, 1989. Your Your victims being Solomon Pakapuan and Kondame Solomon.

The short facts are that on the 20th July, 1989 the three of you planned to kill Solomon Pakapuan. The reason for that was that his sister was married to you Yaow Pikai and she had been unfaithful in that she was associating with another man. You all went to Solomon’s house where you Awaip obtained an axe and chopped Solomon first on the left side of the neck. You then chopped him on the right cheek and then finally on the throat.

After killing Solomon you set fire to his house with Solomon still inside and then you Awaip proceeded to grab hold of Solomon’s one year old daughter by the legs swinging her against a tree trunk thereby smashing her brain. You then throw her into the burning house where her dead father lay.

Yaow Pikai you then took hold of the said axe and chopped Solomon’s wife, Tale Pakapuan, who in fact was your cousin sister. You chopped her twice to the neck and then on the legs. When she fell to the ground you Uwaip grasped the same axe and also chopped her on the legs and then when you attempted to chop her for the second time the head of the axe fell off.

On that day the three of you conducted yourselves in a cowardly and brutal manner, committing three murders in such a way that many people would find difficult to believe. You executed an innocent family who had done nothing to provoke you. Purely because Solomon was the brother of your runaway wife you Yaow and your two brothers embarked on a killing spree that must go down as one of the worst I have ever had to sit and listen to.

Your lawyer said that you planned to kill Solomon because he had not succeeded in returning his sister to her husband. There is no proper explanation as to why the woman and small child were killed. I suspect it was because they were just there at the time and became the victims of your uncontrollable anger and jealousy. I find no fault on the part of the deceased.

Child killers and killers of innocent people are to my mind the worst type of killers and the three of you fall into the category. I am of the view that there is no excuse for what you did. You behaved like monsters.

Your lawyer has asked me to take into account a number of matters when assessing penalty. Firstly that you are uneducated and come from a remote village. In some instances that might be taken into account but it is clear from what your lawyer has said that your own people would not approve of such actions. He did not need to tell me that because I would be amazed if any people would approve of such inhuman actions, particularly the slaughter of an innocent one year old child. She was killed like one would kill a small injured animal to put it out of its misery.

I was also asked to note that you are all without prior convictions and have pleaded guilty. That to my mind is quite insignificant when I consider the enormity of the terrible crime that you have committed.

None of you have expressed any remorse for what you have done and I suspect that that is because you are not at all sorry.

Through your violence you have collided head-on with the Constitution of this country, which reads in part,

“We, the people, do now establish this sovereign nation and declare ourselves, under the guiding hand of God, to be the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.

And we assert, by virtue of that authority:-

that we reject violence and seek consensus as a means of solving our common problems.”

You didn’t reject violence you used it to the extreme, thereby ignoring the Constitution and the people of Papua New Guinea.

I am of the view that you do not deserve the sympathy of this Court and my heart goes out to the dear ones of all the deceased who must have been devastated by these shocking killings.

Even though you Uwaip Pikai, it seems, chopped your cousin sister when she was already dead, I have no doubt that if you had got hold of the axe first you would have killed her.

I am satisfied that you should all receive the maximum penalty.

Awaip Pikai you are convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in hard labour on both counts of wilful murder.

Uwaip Pikai and Yaow Pikai both of you are also convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in hard labour for wilful murder.

Sentenced accordingly.

Lawyer for State: Public Prosecutor

Lawyer for Accused: Public Solicitor