The State v Hilary Lemia (2012) N4817

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Date: 13 September 2012
• Citation: (2012) N4817
• Docket Number: CR. NO. 350 of 2012
• Court: National Court
• Year: 2012

Full Title: CR. NO. 350 of 2012; The State v Hilary Lemia (2012) N4817

National Court: Lenalia, J

Judgment Delivered: 13 September 2012

CRIMINAL LAW—Charge—Grievous bodily harm—Guilty plea—Sentence—Criminal Code s319

CRIMINAL LAW—Particular offence—Grievous bodily harm—Victim cut on the body with a bush-knife—Injuries sustained in the course of trying to run away from his attackers with prisoner—Single clean cut to victim’s right hand—Injuries three deep cuts on right side of the head—Deep cut on the face—Scaring deformity and complete facial nerve loss—Multiple permanent disabilities.

CRIMINAL LAW—Guilty plea—First time offender—Prevalence of offence—No compensation paid—Pre-sentence report filed—Custodial sentence appropriate—Sentence of 4 years imposed to be fully suspended.

Cases cited

Rex Lialu v The State [1990] PNGLR 487; The State v Kopiwan Pupuni (1998) N1709; The State v Kenny Reuben Irowen [2002] PNGLR 190; The State v Toparan Walangur (2004) Cr.No.1760 of 2003; The State v Vincent Naiwa (2004) N2710; The State v Patrick Kimat (2005) N2947; The State v Peter Mideliu (24.7.08) unreported judgment Cr.No.302/08; The State v Penningson Vube (30.3.09) unreported judgment Cr.No.1123/07

1. LENALIA J: The prisoner pleaded guilty to one count of unlawfully causing grievous bodily harm to one Joe Punja, an offence contrary to s319 of the Criminal Code.

Brief Facts

2. Prior to 10th of February 2011 at Warongoi, the prisoner had been searching for his wife Leonie for a number of days. His wife had escaped from the matrimonial home for safety and sought refuge in the victim’s house. This is because, the prisoner had sought Leonie to hurt her with a bush-knife as the couple had had marital problems for some time.

3. The victim of this case Joe Punja tells the story of how Leonie ran away from their house to his house because the prisoner was searching for her at the time of the search holding a bushknife. The prisoner had told Otto Maen, Henry Tesa and his wife that, because the victim had hidden his wife (prisoner’s), if he found the victim he would cut him with his bush-knife.

4. So on the evening of the above date, (10.2.11) the prisoner took a number of friends with him to look for his wife at Joe’s house. The victim was not in his house but as he was returning, the prisoner’s brother asked Joe where the prisoner’s wife was. The victim was frank and admitted that she was in his house.

5. As they walked down together, they met up with the prisoner who took his bush-knife and started to cut the victim. Even David, the brother of the prisoner encouraged the prisoner by shouting “kilim em, kilim em” in English, kill him, kill him.

6. The clinical report revealed...