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By PETER MIVA
A SOUTHERN Highlands man was sentenced to 25 years in jail with hard
labour by the National Court in Lae last Friday for raping a co-worker
and inviting two of his relatives to join.
Judge Justice George Manuhu sentenced Noah Dick, from Buiebi village,
Mendi, Southern Highlands province, after finding him guilty on two
counts of rape in 2004.
Dick was sentenced to 13 years for count one and 12 years on count two,
which are to be served cumulatively.
Justice Manuhu told Dick the crime was serious because he had invited
his two relatives to rape the victim and that as a work mate, he had
breached the trust the woman had placed on him to respect and protect
her.
Court documents showed that on Aug 6, 2004, the victim and two other
female workers of a city supermarket planned to attend a dance at Phils
Club at Eriku that evening.
Another male and the prisoner, who worked with the woman, joined her and
another female co-worker that evening to go for the dance.
Instead of going to the club, the prisoner invited two other relatives,
who owned a 15-seater bus, where they drove around the city drinking at
various spots.
They later drove to Yalu Bridge at around midnight in search of fuel,
when they ran out of fuel next to the bridge. As soon as the vehicle
stopped, the prisoner grabbed the victim and dragged her into the nearby
grasses.
She was then forcefully stripped and raped before the rapist’s two
relatives were called in.
The men then drove back into town, where Dick got off with the victim at
the Snack Bar bus stop in the early hours of Aug 7. Here again, Dick
beat her and raped her again.
Justice Manuhu deducted two years, 11 months and two weeks for the time
the prisoner had spent on remand while awaiting his trial.
The prisoner will only serve 22 years and two weeks in jail with hard
labour at Buimo.
 
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