The State v Lawrence Pukali

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Citation: (2014) N5695
• Date: 22 July 2014
• Court: National Court
• Year: 2014

Full : CR (FC) 574 of 2012; The State v Lawrence Pukali (2014) N5695

National Court: Salika, DCJ

Judgment Delivered: 22 July 2014

CRIMINAL LAW—Practice and procedure—Charges of wilful false promise and forgery—s404(1)(a) and s462(3)(b) of Criminal Code—What is the appropriate sentence—Prisoner is a lawyer.

Cases cited:

State v Jimmy Kendi N3129

State v Dominic Kurai N3435

State v John Kil [2000] PNGLR 253

State v Ostekal Metz (2005) N2824

State v Louise Paraka (2002) N2317

Doreen Liprin v State [2001] PNGLR 6

Belawa v The State (1988-89) PNGLR 496

State v Toua (1997) N1522

1. SALIKA DCJ: Introduction: On 28 March 2014 the Court found Lawrence Pukali guilty to one count of willful false promise to one Chris Wang Bubsep that he would pay K405,600.00 in exchange for 2,535 grams of gold nuggets with the intent to defraud; and one count of forging a Bank South Pacific Cheque purporting it to be a genuine valuable cheque for the amount of K170,000.00, that it will be used or acted upon as genuine.

2. The willful false promise charge was brought under s.404(1)(a) of Criminal Code Act while the forgery charge was brought under s.462(3)(b) of the Criminal Code Act. After having convicted the prisoner the court must now consider the appropriate penalty to impose on the prisoner.

Issue:

3. The issue for the court to determine is what sentence the court should impose on the prisoner. The respective maximum penalties for the offence are 5 years imprisonment and 14 years imprisonment.

4. The respective imprisonment terms is an indication of the seriousness of the offences.

Facts

5. The brief summary of facts are that the prisoner received 2,535 grams of gold from Chris Bubsep for an agreed price of K405,600. Chris Bubsep was told the money would be deposited into his account but the money was never deposited. Upon insistence by Chris Bubsep for the payment the prisoner wrote a BSP cheque as part payment of K170,000.00 but that cheque was dishonored upon presentation at the bank. In the end Chris Bubsep ended up giving away 2.353 kilograms of gold with no payment. Up to date no payment has been made.

6. Even after conviction the prisoner insists, he was a middleman for a Wichal Pacharama of Thailand who he said the gold was given to. If that person does exist, the prisoner should get that person to pay the K405,600 to Chris Bubsep and get himself out of this mess. As it is, this Wichal Pacharama still remains a mystery man.

Case law on Sentence:

7. Counsel have usefully cited similar National Court cases of false pretence and the sentences that were imposed in those cases which I list below.

Case	Facts	Sentence
State v Jimmy Kendi	Prisoner found guilty after a trial on 2 counts of False Pretence and one count of misappropriation of K4,298,037.33	4 years imprisonment for false pretence and 9 years for misappropriation.
State v Dominic Kurai	Prisoner pleaded guilty to 1 count of false pretence. He obtained goods by false pretence from a trade store worth K7.	12 months but suspended on condition.
State v John Kil	Bill Kure advanced to prisoner K1,470 after prisoner falsely promised him that he would repay Kure upon him getting his termination entitlements. Prisoner a former policeman.	18 months imprisonment but suspended on conditions that he repay the K1,470 and other conditions.
State v Jack Ostekal Metz	Prisoner falsely represented to Guest House in Madang that he was expecting millions of Kina from sale of Treasury Bills. He convinced the Manager of the Guest House to accommodate him and that he would pay from the sale of t he Treasury Bills. Prisoner was accommodated for 8 months at the guest house and incurred a bill of K70,445.36 which he could not pay.	3 years 6 months imprisonment.

Forgery case precedents

Case	Facts	Sentence
State v Louise Paraka	Prisoner pleaded guilty to 2 counts of forgery and 2 counts of...