Philip Kassman v The State (2004) SC759

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Date: 20 August 2004
• Citation: (2004) SC759
• Docket Number: SCRA 55 of 2001
• Court: Supreme Court
• Year: 2004

Full Title: SCRA 55 of 2001; Philip Kassman v The State (2004) SC759

Supreme Court: Jalina J, Sawong J, Batari J

Judgment Delivered: 20 August 2004

1 CRIMINAL LAW—Appeal against conviction—Identification evidence—Unsworn statement of accused—Weight of evidence—Appeal dismissed.

2 CRIMINAL LAW—Appeal against sentence—Robbery—Robbery akin to robbery of a bank—Relevant considerations—Appeal dismissed.

3 R v Philip Boike Ulel [1973] PNGLR 254, John Beng v The State [1977] PNGLR 115, Biwa Geta v The State [1988–89] PNGLR 153, Gimble v The State [1988–89] PNGLR 271, Public Prosecutor v Don Hale (1998) SC564, Tau Jim Anis v The State (2000) SC642 referred to

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By The Court: The Appellant was convicted by the National Court in Waigani on 21 September 2001 of the offence of robbery following a trial and sentenced to a term of 10 years imprisonment.

He is appealing to this Court against both conviction and sentence. He challenges his conviction on the grounds that the evidence of identification is "very poor and insufficient" and that the conviction is unsafe in the circumstances. His ground of appeal against sentence is that, "The sentence should have been under the level of the charge."

At the trial, it was undisputed that on 22 November 1999, the victim of the robbery, Fred Ng of Gordons Service Station had gone to the ANZ Bank, Waigani Branch to deposit the company's takings. He was held up by 4 men at gun point outside the bank and the money bag taken off him. The robbers also took from him, the keys to his vehicle intending to use it to facilitate their escape but when the vehicle failed to start, they tried to escape on foot and the appellant was caught together with one other suspect in the attempt. The money bags were also recovered.

The appellant contested on his trial, allegations against him that, he was one of the robbers who was chased out of the bank premises and subsequently caught by the police as he fled across the road towards Boroko Motors premises. He claimed that he was innocently present on the scene and was mistakenly caught when he and others ran for cover after police fired shots. His story was that he had just gotten off a bus at a bus stop next to ANZ Bank intending to see his father at Islander Hotel (now Holiday Inn) and was alerted by a commotion near the ANZ Bank. He went over to investigate but when police...