The State v Kevin Wakore (2007) N3222

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Date: 16 August 2007
• Citation: (2007) N3222
• Docket Number: CR NO 378 0F 2003
• Court: National Court
• Year: 2007

Full Title: CR NO 378 0F 2003; The State v Kevin Wakore (2007) N3222

National Court: Cannings J

Judgment Delivered: 16 August 2007

CRIMINAL LAW—sentence—murder—victim killed in village setting, clan dispute over alleged adultery, offender in a group fight—guilty plea—sentence of 12 years.

A man pleaded guilty to murder. There was a dispute between clans in a village after a man was alleged to have committed adultery with another man’s wife. Two clans had a confrontation and in the course of it the offender shot dead the victim.

Held:

(1) The starting point for sentencing for this sort of murder is 16 to 20 years imprisonment.

(2) Mitigating factors are: de facto provocation; co-operated with police; compensation, peace and reconciliation; pleaded guilty; first-time offender; taking the rap.

(3) Aggravating factors are: no intervening cause of death; deceased had no pre-existing, susceptible condition; death was a foreseeable consequence of the assault; offender’s role in the killing was not minor.

(4) A sentence of 12 years was imposed. The pre-sentence period in custody was deducted and four years of the sentence was suspended.

Cases Cited:

Manu Kovi v The State (2005) SC789; Saperus Yalibakut v The State SCRA No 52 of 2005, 27.04.06; Simon Kama v The State (2004) SC740; The State v David Yakuye Daniel (2005) N2890; The State v Jacky Vutnamur and Kaki Kialo (No 2) (2005) N2868; The State v John Kanua Siune and Kenneth Kunda Siune CR Nos 384 & 385 of 2003; The State v Sebastian Justin Kelly CR 75/2001, 20.05.05

SENTENCE

This was a judgment on sentence for murder.

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SENTENCE

1. CANNINGS J: This is a decision on sentence for a man who pleaded guilty to one count of murder arising from the following facts.

2. The offender and the victim are from Pangalu village in the Talasea area of West New Britain Province. Late in the afternoon of 5 October 2002 the offender, Kevin Wakore, in company with a number of his relatives went to the premises of the deceased’s brother, Andrew Waluka. They were demanding compensation as it was alleged that Andrew Waluka had committed adultery with the wife of one of the offender’s clansmen, Ben Gala. The offender’s group was armed with bushknives and a homemade gun. There was a confrontation between Ben and Robin. Ben pulled a gun from Robin and while they were struggling a member of Kevin’s group cut Robin on the hand. Robin fell and he was cut again on the legs. Kevin got the gun and shot Robin in the chest. Kevin’s group then ran away. Robin was rushed to the Bitokara Health Centre but died on the way. A post-mortem shows that he died due to a gunshot wound to the chest, which caused the collapse of his right lung. When shooting Robin, Kevin intended to do him grievous bodily harm.

3. I entered a provisional plea of guilty and then, after reading the District Court depositions, confirmed the plea and convicted Kevin Wakore of murder.

ANTECEDENTS

4. The offender has no prior convictions.

ALLOCUTUS

5. I administered the allocutus, ie the offender was given the opportunity to say what matters the court should take into account when deciding on punishment. A paraphrased summary of his response follows:

It is true that I committed this offence and I am the only one who caused the deceased’s death. The others [several other men have been charged over the same death] were not involved. However, this trouble did not occur for no reason. Andrew committed adultery and that was the cause of the whole problem. When we went to the deceased’s premises I was not armed. The gun that the deceased was shot with was his own. I only got the gun when another person cut Robin on the hand. I did not check whether it was loaded. I only wanted to threaten him. I don’t know how the gun fired.

OTHER MATTERS OF FACT

6. As the offender has pleaded guilty he will be given the benefit of the doubt on mitigating matters raised in the depositions, the allocutus or in submissions that are not contested by the prosecution (Saperus Yalibakut v The State SCRA No 52 of 2005, 27.04.06).

7. He co-operated with the police, made admissions in his police interview and signed a confessional statement. All of those things happened within a week after the incident.

8. His claim that he was not armed when he went to make the...