Garry Kulau v Kevin Alile (1990) N869

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Citation: (1990) N869
• Date: 22 May 1990
• Court: National Court
• Year: 1990

Full Title: Garry Kulau v Kevin Alile (1990) N869

National Court: Doherty AJ

Judgment Delivered: 22 May 1990

1 Imprisonment in default of fine not necessarily at maximum as related fine—can be mitigating circumstances—s201 of District Courts Act considered.

Held:

In deciding a default penalty the facts and mitigating circumstances if any should be considered as if the defendant was facing imprisonment. Default penalty should not be calculated in the same proportion to the maximum term of imprisonment as the fine is to the maximum fine provided by law.

___________________________

Doherty AJ: The appellant appeals against a decision of the District Court at Lae against sentence following his plea of guilty and conviction on a charge of unlawful use of a motor vehicle contrary to s25(1) of the Motor Traffic Act.

The first ground of appeal was that the fine of K400.00 and default penalty of 12 months was in excess of the prescribed maximum punishment under the act. Counsel for the appellant has abandoned this ground in the light of the provisions of the amendment to the Motor Traffic Act (Amendment No 16 of 1987) increasing the penalty to K2000.00 fine or imprisonment not exceeding five years. He proceeds on the argument that a default penalty of 12 months in hard labour for a fine of K400.00 is excessive.

The appellant pleaded guilty in the District Court and the facts were then read to him. He said "it is true I drove the vehicle. I didn't get the owner's permission to drive the vehicle. Other boys got the car key and they gave it to me...