Judge raps ‘uncivilised’ drinking habit

WHEN will people ever learn to control themselves when consuming alcohol?
That was the question National Court judge Justice Mark Sevua raised on Monday when sentencing a young father to 20 years in prison for murder, arising from a drunken brawl three years ago.
Brian Tau, 29, married with a seven-month-old baby, from Tubusereia village, Central, was convicted on a murder charge after being found guilty of stabbing to death Henrick Murray on the night of July 27, 2007.
Sevua noted the careless attitudes of all those involved in the fight when under the influence of liquor.
“One aspect of this case that I do not understand is the fact that the deceased decided to come out and find out who swore at him.
“Under the circumstances where he was intoxicated, it was foolish of him to do that.
“In my view, if he did not come out to find out who swore at him, the fight would not have erupted and he would not have been stabbed.
“To my mind, what the deceased did was quite foolish, and it was all because of alcohol.
“When will people ever learn to control themselves when consuming alcohol?
“This death is another addition to the statistics of unwanton killing as a result of self-inflicted intoxication with alcohol.
“It just demonstrates how uncivilised young people are when it comes to alcohol consumption,” he said.
Sevua told Tau he had committed a very serious crime, one in which a life had been taken prematurely and the court had found him responsible for it.
Commenting on the family’s wish for a non-custodial sentence, he said:“This will be absurd and against common decency. I do not think a court should ever allow this kind of sentiments to dissuade it from deviating from justly punishing a violent offender or a murderer for that matter.”
Sevua said the courts could not continue to apply the same sentence when crimes like murder and other violent crimes were becoming prevalent.
“People continue to kill each other in drunken state, or just plain stupidity, apart from intentional or premeditated homicides.
“If people cannot respect the law on sanctity of life, then the punishment just have to increase higher and higher,” he said in his 14-page ruling.