Resorting to crimes not an answer, says judge

By CHRISTOPHER YOWAT
A JUDGE has urged unemployed people living in Port Moresby to go back to their villages if they could not cope with the standard of living, instead of committing crime to survive.
Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika said this after he sentenced Kiana Muri, 57, from Gulf, to three years in jail for obtaining by false pretence a hired vehicle which cost K62,300 from another man.
Sir Gibbs said Muri’s cases were similar to other cases because it involved an abuse of trust.
He said most such offenders, often planned their actions prior to committing the offence.
Sir Gibbs said that was serious because it showed how the morals guiding the society were dwindling each day.
He said people who could not cope with the standard of living in the city should return to their villages. Sir Gibbs said crime was not an answer to an honest living.
He said that the crime of false pretence was “going into overdrive, people’s morals are no longer there”.
“We think that the teachings from our parents are rubbish,” Sir Gibbs said.
“People do not have a guilty conscience these days.”
Sir Gibbs said grown-ups should be role models to the younger generation. He said PNG needed honest people in both the private and public sectors to develop a healthy and vibrant nation.