Duo get 104 years for rape and robbery
By PETER MIVA
TWO men were sentenced this week to a total of 104 years in jail for their part in an attack on a businessman and the rape of his wife and daughter two years ago.
Ju Maima has been jailed for 53 years and Michael Wun for 51 years.
On March 16, 2006, coffee buyer Tom Matai and his wife and daughter were travelling to Lae to sell coffee.
The vehicle they were travelling in–a Toyota Landcruiser–broke down that night at Six Mile, near the Niugini Tablebirds processing factory outside Lae city.
As it was late, the family decided to sleep in the vehicle and seek help in the morning.
As they slept, Maima, Wun and five others, armed with knives and guns, crept up to them and attacked them.
They stole five coffee bags and K9,500 in cash.
Then they dragged Mr Matai, his wife and 18-year-old daughter out into the bush and raped the women while Matai was held captive.
The daughter fled into the bush towards the mountains after she was raped.
But there, she was raped again by two other men.
In the morning, she walked into the nearby Minj settlement to seek help.
Maima and Wun were arrested and charged with rape and armed robbery, but denied the charges.
During the trial, they were positively identified by witnesses, including the girl, who had to recount the horrific ordeal in court.
The two were found guilty by the court last year.
Maima, 35, from Kamar village, Chimbu province, was sentenced to 53 years – 15 years for armed robbery, 20 years for the rape of the coffee buyer’s wife, and 18 years for the rape of the daughter.
Wun, 36, from Tumba village, Minj, Western Highlands province, was sentenced to 51 years – 15 years for armed robbery, 18 years for aiding the rape of the man’s wife and another 18 years for helping in the daughter’s rape.
Justice Les Gavera-Nanu ordered that their sentences would be served cumulatively, which is after each other.
Maima is married with a 10-year-old child and was a security guard when he committed the crime.
Wun, a community leader, is also married with children and owns 10 plots of coffee trees back in his village.
Justice Les Gavera-Nanu provided little relief for a crime he described as “very serious” by deducting nine years from their total sentences.
He further deducted two years for the time they had both spent in remand custody.
That leaves Maima with 42 years of jail time and Wun, 40 years.
Justice Gavera-Nanu said he decided to impose cumulative sentences because the crimes were serious.
He said the two men showed no mercy for a family that had sought shelter in the vehicle after their vehicle had broken down.
Justice Gavera-Nanu said the two women would suffer the emotional pain they underwent like a scar for their whole lifetime.
The family has lost its canteen and coffee-buying business because of the robbery, he added.
Justice Gavera-Nanu said the two men had expressed remorse but this was too late to be of any assistance to them.
The court had spent time, money and resource to run a lengthy trial after both denied the charges, he said.
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