Sale Dagu v The State

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Judge: Salika J
• Judgment Date: 05 April 1995
• Citation: (1995) N1316
• Court: National Court
• Year: 1995
• Judgement Number: N1316

National Court: Salika J

Judgment Delivered: 5 April 1995

N1316

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

[NATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE]

WS NO 303 OF 1994

BETWEEN:

SALE DAGU

And:

INDEPENDENT STATE OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Waigani

Salika J

5 April 1995

INJURY TO EYE — 90 to 95% incapacity to right eye — General restriction on plaintiffs activities — Assessment of damages.

Cases Cited:

J Kennedy v Nalau & State [1981] PNGLR 543

T Murray v Kinamur [1983] PNGLR 446

J Rohrlach v Evangelical Lutheran Church [1985] PNGLR 185

S Opa v State [1987] PNGLR 469

R Aura v Papuan Airline Transport Limited [1963] PNGLR 272

Counsel:

Mr Kamburi for the Plaintiff

Mr Maeokali for the Defendant

5 April 1995

SALIKA J: This matter is before this Court only for the assessment of damages. Liability has been determined. The State (defendant) has been found liable for damage together with interest and costs.

The plaintiff had claimed damages for injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident on the 13th October 1990. He sustained injuries to his knee, head and face and subsequently underwent surgery to the cataract of his right eye. He was 34 years old at the time of the accident.

Evidence is that the plaintiff a security officer was a passenger on a moving motor vehicle, an Isuzu station wagon along the Waigani Drive near Club Germania. A motor vehicle owned by the defendant registration number ZGL 575 driven by a police constable named Mathew Hebe bumped into the rear of the vehicle the plaintiff was travelling in. As a result of the impact the Isuzu station wagon ran off the road and overturned several times. The plaintiff was thrown out of the vehicle and landed on the side of the road. He could not recall anything after that as he was unconscious and regained consciousness in the hospital. The plaintiff was bleeding heavily from his head, face and knees. He suffered deep lacerations of about one to two centimetres to the head. He also suffered laceration of three to 4 centimetres deep below the right eye. The lacerations were cleaned and stitched. He suffered eye irritation which was treated with eye ointment.

The plaintiff was unconscious from the impact for about 4 1/2 hours. He was in pain when he regained consciousness. The eye irritation continued and worsened. He left work in January 1992 and on 23rd January the eye was operated on and the cataract was removed.

Medical evidence from Dr Kerek and Dr Korimbo confirmed that the plaintiff developed traumatic cataract of the right eye which reduced his vision dramatically. They confirm that the eye was operated on to remove the cataract. The right eye now has a vision of 1.5/60 to 6/60. This represents a 90 to 95% visual incapacity to his right eye and there is nothing more that can be done medically to improve that. The 90 to 95% incapacity represents a near blindness stage in so far as the right eye is concerned.

This means also that the plaintiff cannot do some things that he used to do. He resigned from his work because of the difficulty he had working...