20 years for manslaughter

THE National Court on Friday jailed a 27-year-old man 20 years with hard labour for manslaughter.
Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika, in sentencing Ovia Maiani, from Kairuku’s Ukaukana village in Central, said manslaughter were still very prevalent and “becoming more and more daring”.
Maiani used a bush knife to slash the deceased in Central’s Mava village on May 18, 2019, inflicting multiple body injuries and a fractured skull that split open the head.
According to police report, the deceased and Maiani’s cousin brother’s wife were having extra marital affairs and the first incident was reported at the Doa Police Station in 2018.
“While I do not condone what Maiani did, life situations in a village or rural settings are different from urban settings,” he said.
“Respect to and for families are essential basic fundamental values and are revered more in villages and rural settings than in towns and urban settings and should be maintained.
“In the case of the deceased, he appeared to have the tendency to cause problems with other families.
“He was warned but he kept doing what he was doing, that is having an affair with a married woman.
“Maiani was provoked in the non-legal sense to do what he did.
“While the Maiani’s actions might have been justified to some extent, he could have restrained himself not to kill him.
“He became the accuser, the investigator, the prosecutor and the judge. He took the law into his own hands.”
Sir Gibbs said the offence carried a maximum life imprisonment but the court had the discretion to impose a lesser term.
Sir Gibbs deducted two years and three months spent in custody leaving Maiani with a term of 17 years and nine months to serve.
Maiani had been drinking with friends in Koupuana village before they took a bus to Mava village.
He then used a bush knife to slash the deceased multiple times on his left hand, head and lower back.