Judge throws out parole application of murderer

By TREVOR WAHUNE
A JUDGE has rejected a parole application from a man serving life imprisonment after the court was told he had committed another offence while out on parole in a previous case.
National Court judge Justice David Cannings refused the parole application by James Paribomai from Chimbu after the court was told the prisoner was currently serving a jail term for a rape conviction in 2002 which he had committed while on parole previously.
State lawyer Priscilla Ohuma told the court that Paribomai was sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and murder of an Australian female helicopter pilot Heather Mitchell in 1988.
“There is no guarantee the convict can live peacefully in the society on parole given that he committed rape in 2002 while on parole,” Ohuma said.
Parole is a legal agreement of which a convict is released on probationary terms through a decision of a parole board on the basis that a convict does not re-commit an offence.
Justice Cannings ruled that Paribomai served his sentence and be not released by any authorisation.