Judge scolds wife-killer

By BARBARA DERUAGE
A JUDGE berated a man for killing his pregnant wife over K20 he had stolen from her bilum to buy drinks, saying he deserves to be jailed for a long time.
Justice Danajo Koeget, pictured, told Felix Ben, 26, from Iokea village in Malalaua, Gulf, before jailing him 30 years with hard labour, that he had terminated a life prematurely for no good reason.
“You can stand there and see the sun rise in the east and set in the west,” he told Ben in the National Court at Waigani.
“You will enjoy talking with your family and your friends but the deceased cannot because she is dead and cannot be resurrected.
“None of us in this court room, including myself, can imagine or feel the pain and suffering her family may have experienced and that factor is very serious in my view and I am against this act.”
Ben appeared before Justice Koeget for murdering Mary Steven, 23, from Ova’a village, Ihu, Gulf between 7pm and 8pm on Dec 23 last year at Ova’a.
Steven had confronted Ben after she found K20 missing from her bilum.
Ben who was under the influence of alcohol, struck her at the back of her head with an axe.
She died before she was taken to the Kerema General Hospital.
Justice Koeget said the injury was so severe Steven had no chance of survival.
“You killed her for no good reason. The deceased was angry at you for stealing the money because she needed the money to fend for herself, you and your unborn first child,” he said.
“In a rural setting like yours, K20 is big money, especially when there is an economic crisis. But you stupidly stole the money and bought alcohol to drink with your friends.
“When you were confronted by the deceased, you should have humbled yourself and admitted the offence. Instead you fought with her, hit her with an axe, killing her. And those in my view are aggravating factors.”
He suspended seven months of the jail term that Ben had already served.
He will therefore spend 29 years and five months at Bomana Prison.
Justice Koeget said the mitigating factors were that Ben was a first-time offender, had expressed remorse and his family had paid K2,500 in compensation to Steven’s relatives.
Ben promised to make additional payments after serving his jail term.
He said the severity and prevalence of the case forced the court to exercise its discretionary power under the Criminal Code Act to impose a higher sentence.
“Such cases are prevalent in this country and in this case, a young life terminated prematurely without any good reason,” he said.