Court refuses application of convicted killer

The Waigani National Court has refused an application for enforcement of human rights filed by a man who was sentenced to 20 years in jail for the murder of his wife.
Justice David Cannings refused Paul Walaipu’s application which claimed that four prosecution officials had been negligent in his case, resulting in his wrongful arrest and conviction.
Walaipu, a former police chief sergeant, submitted that pathologist Dr Seth Fose, Public Solicitor Office lawyer Edward Sasingian, arresting officer Lenny Varage and forensic crime-scene photographer Samson Pantan had been negligent in performing their tasks efficiently which resulted in his conviction and sentence.
Walaipu was convicted after being arrested for an incident outside the Chili Peppers nightclub in Port Moresby on Dec 11, 2014, when he was seen punching and kicking his wife. The victim died a few days later.
Walaipu charged with murder.
Walaipu claimed that he did not kill his wife. He said the death was sorcery-related.
He claimed that Dr Fose did not produce a clear post-mortem report stating the cause of the death, and failed to sign the report. He argued that the doctor did not address the issue of dried blood found on the victim’s scalp which he believed indicated that the cause of death was not blood trauma but something else like sorcery or witchcraft.
He also claimed that his lawyer had failed to follow instructions and failed to address the issue of dried blood.
Walaipu also claimed that the arresting officer, Varage, destroyed the crime report and failed to carry out proper criminal investigations and make arrests.
He stated that the forensic photographer failed to produce coloured photographs which would have shown the presence of dried blood.
Although Justice Cannings agreed with some of the claims, there was not enough evidence to support them. Cannings dismissed claims against Dr Fose after confirming that he had filed another signed report and appeared in court to gave oral evidence.
Justice Cannings also found substantial evidence against Walaipu’s claims of negligence by Sasingian, Varage and Pantan, stating that Walaipu failed to prove to the court when he had informed Sasingian about the dried blood and sorcery.
Justice Cannings further stated that Walaipu had failed to prove to the court when and where exactly Varage had destroyed the crime report.
The judge dismissed the claims against Pantan, stating that although he had failed to produce coloured photographs, it was unlikely that coloured photographs had been presented during trial and so the result of the case was unlikely to change as it was based primarily on eyewitness evidence.
The application was thereby refused and the proceedings dismissed.