The State v Nickson Pari (No 1) (2000) N2037

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Citation: (2000) N2037
• Date: 14 December 2000
• Court: National Court
• Year: 2000

Full Title: The State v Nickson Pari (No 1) (2000) N2037

National Court: Kandakasi J

Judgment Delivered: 14 December 2000

1 Criminal Law—Practice and procedure—On plea of guilty—Statement in allocutus contrary to plea and depositions—Pleas of not guilty to be recorded—Trial before another judge required.

2 The The State v Joe Ivoro and Gemora Yavura (1980] PNGLR 1, R v Bena–Forepe (1965–66] PNGLR 329, Gabriel Laku v The State (1981] PNGLR 350, The State v Peter Sari (1990] PNGLR 48, Dinge Damane v The State (1991] PNGLR 244 and Martin Ferry v The State SCRA64 of 2000 (Unreported and unnumbered judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on 22 November 2000 at Wewak)

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Kandakasi J: On the 5 December 2000, the Defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted murder under s304 of the Criminal Code (Ch262) (hereafter "the Code"). Upon reading the deposition, I was satisfied that there was enough evidence to support the guilty plea. Hence, I confirmed the guilty plea and convicted the Defendant as charged.

Allocutus

In his allocutus pursuant to s593 of the Code, the Defendant said he did not intend to kill or shoot the victim. It was an accident. He said his finger accidentally pressed the trigger of a home–made gun he was carrying and the bullet went off and injured the victim. He then said he has additional things to say and those are set out in a letter and he handed up the letter. The letter was dated 14 November 2000 consisting of 3 pages. That letter was admitted into evidence with the States consent. Set out below is the material parts of the letter.

"Your Honour, on the 9 Friday of June 2000 about 8.00pm I left my house at five mile and I was walking down to four mile following the main highway. The reason why I came to four mile is to visit my uncle and his family, as I was approaching the junction to four mile I met those three (3) boys sitting along the street leading to my uncle's house. Your Honour, I do know them because they are my uncle's next neighbours so I stopped and ask them why they're sitting in the dark talking to themselves quietly. Your Honour, they told me that they were planning to rob those men playing cards, I heard this and know that it's gonna be a trouble so I wanted to leave them and go away. Your Honour, those three (3) boys are bigger than me and they resist that I must follow them to commit these offence. I was helpless that time so I follow them to where this trouble had been committed. They (the boys) gave me a home–made gun with a bullet and we went off...