Magistrate: Wife beating thing of the past

 WIFE bashing is a thing of the past, Lae District Court magistrate Sasa Ikung said yesterday after he found a man guilty of punching and wounding his pregnant wife.

Inkung fined Andrew Mangua K200, in default four months imprisonment.

The court heard that last Saturday, Mangua went home drunk and during an argument with his eight-month pregnant wife, he punched her in the face. She sustained a cut.

“She is pregnant. If you kill her, what will happen?” the magistrate told Mangua.

“Women today have rights. Wife-beating is a thing of the past.”

The court was told that the incident happened at the Bundi Camp settlement in Lae in the presence of the victim’s relatives. The woman, with the help of her family, reported the matter to police. 

Mangua was apprehended and charged.

Police told the court this was not the first time the accused had beaten his wife as he had done so on many occasions in the past. 

Mangua admitted punching his wife but said she had provoked him.

He said he was sleeping when his phone rang and his wife had answered it and heard a woman’s voice and suspected him of having an affair with the woman.

Ikung told Mangua that if he beat his wife again he would be imprisoned, lose his job and his family would suffer as a consequence.