Court overturns 30-year jail conviction for murder

The National Main Stories

By GIDEON KINDIWA
A POLICE officer won his appeal in the Supreme Court yesterday against a 30-year jail conviction for murdering a 12-year-old girl in 2013.
It had been a six-year-long court battle for Jeffrey Sheekiot, 36, to secure his release.
Justice Derek Hartshorn said the three-man bench found that the Waigani National Court had wrongly found Sheekiot guilty based on circumstantial evidence.
Sheekiot, from Bogia’s Samusamu village in Madang, was convicted for wilful murder of Feline Bune on April 19, 2013.
Waigani National Court Justice George Manuhu jailed Sheekiot 30 years on July 21, 2017.
The alleged killing occurred between 7pm and 9pm between Hohola and City Hall, Port Moresby.
Sheekiot, with several policemen, were chasing a suspected stolen Toyota Camry which was being pursued by another vehicle.
The girl was in the Toyota Camry and her mother was driving when shots were fired.
Sheekiot was convicted based on circumstantial evidence that he was the only one who had fired the shots from a bushmaster rifle and the girl died from loss of blood from three bullet wounds.
Defence lawyer Gloria Salika, from Young and Williams Lawyers, filed an appeal that the court had ruled based on circumstantial evidence and that the facts and evidence were inconsistent.
Hartshorn, on behalf himself, Deputy Chief Justice Ambeng Kandakasi and Justice Iova Geita, said: “We are satisfied that there are discrepancies in the evidence, meaning the evidence was inconsistent and Sheekiot was sentenced based on circumstances surrounding the case.
“Evidence from Police Forensic Science Services shows that Sheekiot fired 5.56mm calibre bullets and marks on the Camry matched the bullet type.
“The entry wounds on the girl were 8mm and 9mm which was caused by one bullet or fragments.
“However, a piece of brown lead ball was found in the Camry which was from a shotgun cartridge and not from a bushmaster rifle.
“And evidence from National Forensic Science Centre shows otherwise.
“The bullet fragments found on the Camry were so small like sand and could not be determined whether they are from a 5.56mm bullet.
“It also concluded that the wounds were too large and were not caused by a 5.56mm bullet, be it fragmented or not.”
Sheekiot also provided “unchallenged evidence” that they heard a couple of gunshots near Hohola market, saw the two vehicles and pursued them.
The bench held that the evidence was inconsistent and Sheekiot was wrongly convicted.
It also held that there was no evidence of firearms found in the Camry or of shots being fired from the Camry, and concluded that those shots came from the other vehicle which was chasing the Camry.
The court ruled that the circumstances of the case were consistent with Sheekiot’s guilt, which is a “reasonable hypothesis” and is not a possibility of innocence.
The court gave the following orders:

  • The appeal is allowed;
  • the conviction on May 19, 2017, is quashed;
  • the sentence ordered on July 21, 2017, is quashed; and,
  • The appellant’s bail money shall be refunded to him.

Sheekiot told The National outside court: “I thank God and would like to dedicate my release to my late father and former assistant police commissioner Fred Sheekiot.
“I also want to thank my lawyer and family for fighting with me for almost six years until my release today,” he said.
The father of five said he would finally be able to go return to Milne Bay to be with his wife, Otolose and children.
“If we hadn’t fought hard, I would have to spent 30 years in prison and meet my family in 2047 for a crime I did not commit,” he added.