Cannings calculates killer’s release date

By BEVERLY PETER
A HUMAN rights judge says a prisoner’s due date of release is a matter of law to be calculated by looking to the court and the Correctional Service (CS) records and interpretations applying the provision of the CS the Act.
Justice David Cannings, sitting as a single Supreme Court judge at Waigani on Friday, said every prisoner had the right to full protection of the law under section 37(1) of the Constitution and that included the right to know when exactly they would be released from custody.
He said this in a decision in which he confirmed the date of release of a convicted murderer, who was sentenced to 17 years in 2013, was July 3 this year.
Justice Cannings said the calculation according to the law appeared to be complex but it was designed to take into consideration when a prisoner serving more than one sentence or escaped from custody and was out but later returned to custody.
He then noted the calculations for the date of release where the total term of the sentence to be served was obtained by deducting any suspension made by court on the head sentence.
Cannings, after calculating the term for Medlin Yari, ordered that the right date for her release was July 3. He said the calculation by CS for Yari’s release on Aug 12 was incorrect.