The State v Peter Erne

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Judge: Sakora J
• Judgment Date: 10 November 1999
• Citation: (1999) N1939
• Court: National Court
• Year: 1999
• Judgement Number: N1939

National Court: Sakora J

Judgment Delivered: 10 November 1999

N1939

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

[In the National Court of Justice}

CR. 761 OF 1999

THE STATE

-vs-

PETER ERNE

Lae : Sakora, J

1999 : 3 & 10 November

Mr M Peter for the State

Mr L Siminji for the Defence

SENTENCE

10 November 1999

SAKORA J: The State presented an indictment against you, charging you with one count of unlawfully doing grievous bodily harm to another person, a man by the name of Stanley Yange. It was alleged that this offence was committed at Erap, outside Lae, on 10 January 1999. Upon the charge being formally put to you by the Court, you pleaded guilty to the charge.

The agreed facts for your plea of guilty demonstrate the following circumstances. On the day in question about 12:30 pm., you and four other men were drinking beer under the Erap bridge. The victim and a friend, on their way back to Lae from Ramu in a motor vehicle, stopped at the bridge and went down to the river to collect some stones to build a “mumu”. It was then that an argument started between you and your four friends and the victim and his friend.

It would appear that you and your friends, in your drunken state, suspected the victim and his friend to have fought with you earlier, and, therefore, you were demanding compensation from them. The arguments developed into physical confrontation between the two groups. The State’s case was that it was during this confrontation that the victim received multiple knife wounds to his scalp, and also other injuries to the head.

The victim was then left unconscious at the scene, you and your friends departing. Later the same day, the victim was taken to and admitted at the ANGAU Memorial Hospital, Lae. He was in hospital for medical attention and treatment to his injuries for 10 days. It was the State’s case that you were in this group with four others who argued with and attacked the victim, Stanley Yange, and that your role...