Man loses appeal against rape sentence

 By DAPHNE WANI
The Supreme Court in Waigani yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision to sentence a man to 12 years imprisonment for rape.
Justice Don Sawong, when delivering the decision on behalf of Justice Salatiel Lenalia, dismissed all three grounds of appeal by Peter Pung as he found no merit to each of them.
Pung was convicted on Nov 22, 2012, on two counts of rape. The court heard that he raped the  on April 22, 2010, at Gerehu Stage 2, in  the National Capital District.
The grounds of appeal were that the convictions were unsafe and unsatisfactory in that:
l The trial judge erred in not considering the evidence of the victim (circumstances) immediately before the alleged rape occurred;
l The judge did not give weight to the medical evidence of the doctor; and,
l The defendants’ witnesses were not truthful.
It was alleged that on April 22, 2010, between 5 and 6pm, the victim went to 4-Mile and was waiting for a bus to get to Morata 1.
It was already dark when Pung arrived in a Route 17 PMV bus.
The victim had known Pung so she decided to get on the bus with him. After dropping several passengers at Gordon they then proceeded to Morata . Pung told the victim to remain on the bus so he would drop her off at her house later.
Pung, however, drove the victim straight to Gerehu where he raped her twice.