Gulf man gets four years for abduction

THE National Court on Tuesday sentenced a youth in his 20s from Gulf, to four years in prison with hard labour for his part in the abduction of a young woman at a night club in Port Moresby in May 2008.
Justice Gibbs Salika last week acquitted Gilbert Hikari on the charge of rape but convicted him for abduction.
On Tuesday state prosecutor Miglshi Giruakonda, in his submission on sentence, told the court that “women have constitutional rights to be fully protected by our laws.”
While sentencing Hikari, Salika said:“Women have every right to full protection of the law.
“Our PNG customs that don’t recognise women as equal and are repugnant to the constitution must stop. Women are equal to men and it’s their right to say ‘no’, and men must respect that. The woman in this case was an unwilling participant. What happened after abduction is a direct result of abduction. The seriousness of this crime is that the victim was punched and knocked out cold in the taxi and cannot recall being raped afterwards.
“You and I as men must learn to respect women. When a woman says, ‘No, I don’t want to come with you, that is one of their rights. We men in PNG are yet to reach that stage. We men must grow up in the head to stop harassing women,” he told the offender.
Salika noted he was a first time offender.
However, two years, five months and two days have been deducted for time spent in custody and so he will serve the remaining balance of the sentence at the Bomana jail.