Joseph Enn v The State (2004) SC738

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Date: 01 April 2004
• Citation: (2004) SC738
• Docket Number: SCRA 3 of 2003
• Court: Supreme Court
• Year: 2004

Full Title: SCRA 3 of 2003; Joseph Enn v The State (2004) SC738

Supreme Court: Sevua J, Kandakasi J, Lenalia J

Judgment Delivered: 1 April 2004

1 Criminal Law—Appeal against sentence—Severity of—Murder—Charge of—Use of bush knife—Attack from back of deceased—Deceased's head totally severed—Instant death resulting from attack—Sentencing tariff—Sentence of 20 years—Criminal Code (Ch262) s300(1).

2 Criminal Law—Appeal against sentence—Powers of Supreme Court on Appeal—Warning on cases of serious nature—Where more severe sentence warranted—Appeal dismissed—Supreme Court Act (Ch37), s23(4)

3 Avia Aihi v The State (No 3) [1982] PNGLR 92, William Norris v The State [1979] PNGLR 605, Goli Golu v The State [1979] PNGLR 653, Aloises Peter Irobo Kovei v The State (2001) SC676, Joe Foe Leslie Leslie v The State (1998) SC560, The State v Joseph Ulakua (2002) N2240, Max Java v The State (2002) SC701, Lawrence Simbe v The State [1994] PNGLR 38 referred to

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By the Court: This is an appeal by the appellant against a sentence of 20 years imprisonment imposed on him by the National Court in Kundiawa on 14 November 2002, on a charge of murder of one Mathew Wamina, the deceased, in the course of pursuing an unlawful purpose contrary to s300(1)(b)(i) of the Criminal Code.

We heard this appeal on Monday, 29 March and reserved our decision to today. This is a unanimous decision of this Court.

Before the trial judge were the following facts. On the morning of 17 June 2000, the appellant left his village for Togel village to attend a reconciliation meeting with the aim to resolve an outstanding dispute. In the course of that meeting, the victim, Mathew Wamina and Margaret Daka had an argument and they then fought. Thomas Gend, one of their clansmen stopped the two from fighting. After they were stopped, the deceased walked back to where he was, to sit down. The appellant armed with a long bush knife walked up behind the deceased and struck the deceased with the bush knife on the left side of the neck. The impact of the knife...