Appeal to review sentence dismissed

THE Supreme Court in Waigani has dismissed an appeal by Dr Theo Yasause to review his 30-year sentence for murder six years ago.
Judge Allen David, when handing down the decision last week, said: “We would dismiss the appeal and confirm the sentence imposed by the trial judge. The High Court found that there was no error on the part of the trial judge which would have had an effect on destroying the discretion of his sentence.”
Justice David said to succeed in an appeal against sentence, a complainant must establish that the trial judge made some identifiable error in the course of exercising the discretion as to the sentence or that the sentence was clearly extreme.
Yasause had filed filed an application stating that: “The sentence of 30 years was meant for a conviction for wilful murder and not murder and was not equal with the sentencing trend, therefore the sentence in the circumstances was clearly extreme and harsh.”
On July 11, 2012, Yasause appeared from custody in the Waigani National Court before acting judge Justice Lawrence Kangwia and was charged with one count of the wilful murder of Aquila Emil.
He pleaded not guilty.
On Sept 28, 2012, the trial found him not guilty of wilful murder, but guilty of murder.
On Nov 29, 2012, the trial judge sentenced him to 30 years imprisonment with hard labour less a year and 10 months for time spent in custody.
He appealed his conviction and also the sentence by filing separate appeals. The court heard that all the applications were dismissed by the National and Supreme Courts.
On April 25 last year the court reinstated the appeal against his sentence and ordered that the appeal be processed and progressed to a hearing following his appeal stating that it was withdrawn without his consent.
In his last submission, he had filed an application to present fresh evidence which the court dismissed as being without importance.
The evidence sought to be presented as fresh evidence was that a person had allegedly confessed to shooting Emil and that the evidence to confirm the confession was available.