State v Erick [2002] PGNC 125; N2201 (18 April 2002)

N2201

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

[IN THE NATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE]

CR 1576 OF 2001

THE STATE

-V-

HOBERT ERICK

POPONDETTA : JALINA, J.
8TH & 18TH APRIL 2002

CRIMINAL LAW – Sentence – Unlawful killing – Death from attack with bush knife – Guilty plea – First offender – Prevalence of violence against women – Custodial Sentence appropriate as deterrent – Criminal Code s.300.

Counsel:

Ms. M. Boni for the State
Mr. P. N’dranoh for the Prisoner

18th April 2002

JALINA, J. This prisoner has pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully killing his wife, the late Delma Erick at Isoge Village, Oro Province on 7th August 2001, at about 11 am.

The prisoner had apparently returned to his house the next morning after a dance and upon being told by the deceased that there was no food for him as she had been busy with the children, he became angry and started damaging family properties such as cooking utensils and her clothes. He even cut the post of their house down.

The deceased became concerned about his violent behaviour so she sought help from the village law officer, Mr. Lucain Sanopa. She asked Mr. Sanopa to witness what was happening. When she arrived at their house with Mr. Sanopa, the prisoner became more angry and attacked her with the bush knife. He chopped her on one of her legs first and she fell down slowly on her side to avoid causing injury to their 21/2 month old child which she was carrying on her head in a string bag.

The prisoner then chopped her other leg with the same bush knife. The prisoner turned a deaf ear to Mr. Sanopa’s plea to him not to attack the deceased as she was his wife. After attacking the deceased he ran away into the bush. Soon women from the village came to the aid of the deceased who was bleeding profusely. She was taken to the road on a stretcher and then by an ambulance to the Popondetta General Hospital but she died on arrival.

The Medical Report of Dr. Minal Marinki shows two (2) knife wounds with clean edges. The wound 4 cm below the knee of her right leg measured 12 cm x 9 cm and was 5 cm deep. The proximal tibia was fractured while the fibula distal limb was attached only to a tag of skin. Major blood vessels including tibial arteries were severed.

The wound on her left leg measured 9 cm x 6 cm and was 2 cm deep. The muscle and tissues were intact. The Medical Report shows cause of death being from massive blood loss from severed blood vessels from right leg secondary to knife wound.

The maximum penalty for manslaughter is life imprisonment under s.302 of the Criminal Code. However, in most cases the Court has imposed a term of years for this offence pursuant to s.19 which gives it wide sentencing discretion.

Whether or not the Court imposes the maximum penalty of life imprisonment or a term of years depends on the facts and circumstances of each case. From the nature of the injuries, this case is more akin to murder than manslaughter. Thus, in Simbe –v- The State [1994] PNGLR 38 the Supreme Court upheld a 14-year sentence I imposed upon the appellant for murder when he attacked the deceased with a bush knife and cut his rib cage open after the appellant saw the deceased trying to entice his wife to have sexual relations.

The prisoner in the case now before me has expressed remorse to God, and to the Court and country for what he had done.

In his confessional statement which was not relied upon by his lawyer, he gives a number of reasons for attacking the deceased. Those reasons range from his intention to just trick her but the knife landing on her leg to his father refusing to pay bride price so he attacked her. But in his record of interview he gives failure by the deceased to prepare food as the main reason for his attack upon her.

Mr. N’dranoh, lawyer for the prisoner has submitted that I impose a lesser sentence in view of payment of compensation of K1,400.00 in cash, food stuff and 2 pigs coupled with other mitigating factors such as his plea of guilty, his expression of remorse, this being his first offence and provocation in the non-legal sense.

In considering the sentence I should impose I have taken into account the mitigating factors referred to by Defence Counsel. Although compensation may have been paid and the two families have reconciled, no amount of compensation can bring back the life the deceased lost in a most tragic manner. The prisoner attacked her in that manner as if she was an enemy or even a stranger to him. He had no mercy for the fact that she was his wife who bore him 2 children and at the time she was carrying their 21/2 old baby on her heard in a string bag. The child did not act as a deterrent to him at all. This case would therefore appear to me to be a more serious case of manslaughter and as such the sentence should be at the higher end of the scale of sentences for manslaughter.

Considering what the Supreme Court said in Antep Yala –v- The State Unreported SCR 69/96 and Tanga –v- The State [1999] SC602, regarding sentences in manslaughter cases, the sentence I consider appropriate in the circumstances is 11 years imprisonment in hard labour.
I deduct from that sentence the 8 months and 2 weeks he has spent in custody which leaves 10 years, 3 months and 2 weeks in hard labour.

_____________________________________________________________________
Lawyer for the State: Public Prosecutor

Lawyer for the Prisoner: Public Solicitor