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Independent State of Papua New Guinea v Bill [2025] PGNC 360; N11414 (11 July 2025)

N11414

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
[NATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE]

WS NO. 1513 OF 2024

BETWEEN:
THE INDEPENDENT STATE OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Complainant

AND:
NATHAN BILL
Accused

MANUS: DINGAKE J
4, 11, JULY 2025

CRIMINAL LAW – Sentencing – Grievous Bodily Harm – Criminal Code Act, s.319 – Guilty plea – First-time offender – Remorse and apology – Customary compensation – Restorative justice – Fully suspended sentence with probation

Counsel
Mrs. Linda Maru, for the complainant
Mr. Kusunan Pokiton, for the accused

SENTENCE

1. DINGAKE J: I have convicted you of the offence of causing grievous bodily harm, to one Lilian Siwa Wamoi, on your own plea of guilty, contrary to Section 319 of the Criminal Code Act.
   
2. This is my sentence.
   
3. There are moments in the life of the law when its face must be stern, but there are also moments when it may show compassion without compromising its dignity. This is one such moment.
   
4. The offence of which you stand charged and pleaded guilty to is a serious offence
   
5. It wounds not only the body of the victim but the peace of the community. It is conduct that the law condemns and must denounce. And yet, even within the stern architecture of justice, there is room for mercy.
   
6. The facts, which need not be recited in full, disclose that the injury inflicted was serious, but it was not premeditated, nor was it done in cold blood. The act was rash, no doubt, but not wantonly cruel. The victim has survived and, it appears, is on the path to recovery.
   
7. The offender has no prior convictions.
   
8. The allocutus of the accused spoke not in the language of evasion, but of remorse. He did not shift blame, but rather bore it, as any truly remorseful person ought to do when conscience pricks him. He apologized—to the victim, to the community, and to this Court. He expressed an earnest desire to repair the harm in the manner of his ancestors—by way of Manus tradition, a form of customary compensation that speaks to reconciliation and the mending of communal harmony.
   
9. As I said earlier, the accused is a first-time offender, without the shadow of past misconduct. He is young, a man still with potential to return to society and make amends not only in word but indeed.
   
10. The Offender’s lawyer Mr. Pokiton submitted that based on his antecedents and allocutus this court, consistent, with similar cases must consider sentencing him to a prison term of 2-5 years.
    
11. The prosecutor, Ms. Maru, with commendable candour and professional detachment, invited this Court—if it were so persuaded—to consider a sentence not involving incarceration, but one that aligns with restorative principles: compensation to the victim, a financial penalty to mark society’s disapproval, and perhaps, more enduring than either, a sense of moral responsibility etched in the heart of the off ender.
    
12. In determining an appropriate sentence, I have considered a range of permissible sentences as established by case law, and the maximum penalty permissible.
    
13. The Criminal Code sets the ceiling of punishment at seven years imprisonment. Precedents speak in a variety of tones—some harsh, others lenient—but in similar circumstances, sentences have ranged from full suspension to terms of imprisonment between two and five years. The maximum sentence has been reserved for bad cases.
    
14. This Court is not bound to repeat the past where justice calls for nuance.
    
15. I have read the Pre-Sentence Report by Acting Senior Probation Officer Ms. Nancy Poli. I have understood it fully. I have also heard submissions on the Pre-Sentence Report by the Prosecutor and the Defence. I have taken into account their submissions.
    
16. In all the circumstances of this case a custodial sentence is warranted but need not be served behind bars.
    

ORDERS

17. The Orders of the Court are as follows:
    
    1. The Offender/Defendant is sentenced to three (3) years imprisonment. The whole of the sentence is suspended.
       
    2. The Offender is placed on probation for twelve (12) months.
       
    3. The Conditions of the Probation are:
       
       • 3.1. Pay K1,000.00 compensation to the victim within three (3) – six (6) months.
         
       • 3.2. Attend counselling session for a period of twelve (12) months.
         
       • 3.3. Refrain from assaulting or committing any offence against anyone within the duration of the supervision period.
         
       • 3.4. Refrain from consuming alcohol within the duration of supervision.
         
       • 3.5. The probationer shall provide his home address to which he is to go and shall remain until he is contacted by a probation officer.
         
       • 3.6. The probationer shall report to the probation officer as and when required by the probation officer to do so.
         
       • 3.7. The probationer shall keep the peace and be of good behaviour during the period of probation.
         
       • 3.8. The probationer shall not change his address, other than the address referred to in Paragraph (3.5), unless he has given to a probation officer reasonable notice of his intention to do so and the reasons for the proposed change; and
         
       • 3.9. Where virtue of the change of address, the probationer has moved to another declared area, he shall, within 48 hours of arrival, report to a probation officer in that area and advise that officer of the nature and place of her employment and of his new address in that area;
         
       • 3.10. Failure to comply with any of the conditions, the Probationer shall be arrested and shall serve the full sentence.
         

Ordered accordingly.
________________________________________________________________
Lawyer for the State: Public Prosecutor
Lawyer for the prisoner: Public Solicitor