Student in jail for murder loses Supreme Court appeal

National

A STUDENT serving a 15-year prison term for murder has lost an appeal in the Supreme Court against his conviction.
The three-judge Supreme Court bench of David Cannings, Ere Kariko and Jeffery Shepherd upheld the ruling of the National Court.
Gordon Junior had been convicted by the National Court after pleading guilty to one count of murder. Initially, he was charged with wilful murder.
Junior appealed against his conviction on the ground that the trial judge had failed to properly consider the guilty plea based on the depositions that there was a possible defence of provocation, which would have resulted in his conviction on the lesser offence of manslaughter.
He was represented in court by a fellow inmate.
The Supreme Court did not find enough evidence to support the appeal.
The court heard that Junior had committed the offence on Oct 26, 2013, at Hohola 4 in Port Moresby, after drinking homebrew with 20 schoolmates.
When the local residents told the group to leave, a stone-throwing fight started.
The victim, Joshua Luta Tokali, who was drunk, was running behind Junior and when he swore at one of Junior’s friends, Junior attacked him by kicking him twice before stabbing him in the back with a knife.
The victim died from loss of blood.