Public Prosecutor v Tom Ake

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Citation: [1978] PNGLR 469
• Date: 01 December 1978
• Court: Supreme Court
• Year: 1978

Supreme Court: Prentice CJ, Pritchard J, Greville–Smith J

Judgment Delivered: 1 December 1978

1 Criminal law—murder—plea of guilty and work/background of limited relevance qua leniency—public deterrence to be emphasised—"most favourable version of facts" doctrine—qualification when no challenge to fact in State case on plea

2 CRIMINAL LAW—Appeal against sentence—Murder—Relevant matters for consideration—Public deterrence to be emphasised—Plea of guilty, work–background and youthfulness of limited relevance—Appeal against inadequacy—Sentence of 8 years substituted for sentence of 4 years.

3 CRIMINAL LAW—Sentence—Plea of guilty—"Most favourable version of facts" doctrine—Applicability where no challenge to facts in state case on plea.

On appeal against inadequacy of sentence, where the accused was convicted on a plea of guilty on a charge of murder and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment with hard labour, it appeared that the accused, a man in his late twenties with no prior convictions, with a steady work record and two wives and six children had, following an altercation, attacked an off duty and out of uniform police constable with a weapon, hitting him savagely on the back of his head;

Held:

(1) When no challenge is made to any of the facts alleged in the state case on a plea of guilty, the doctrine that the version of the facts most favourable to the accused should be acted upon, does not apply.

O'Malley v French (1971) 2 SASR 110 at 112; and R v Gabai Vagi [1973] PNGLR 30 distinguished.

(2) Matters...