Robbery victims suffer terrifying trauma: Judge

CHIEF Justice Sir Gibbs Salika says armed robbery victims undergo terrifying life-threatening trauma physically and mentally.
“And armed robberies often result in death of either the victim or the robber. This is a serious offence and the maximum penalty is life imprisonment in worse cases,” he added.
In making those remarks, Justice Sir Gibbs jailed Michael Micks Joe, 31, seven years with hard labour for armed robbery in 2019.
On Nov 9, 2019, Joe and his friends, under the influence of alcohol and wielding bush knives, robbed a couple at the North Waigani bus stop in Port Moresby.
Josephine Michael was dropped off at the bus stop by her work car and her husband was waiting to pick her up.
As she was getting into her husband’s car, Joe and his friends snatched away her bilum containing K460 and a Samsung S10 mobile phone.
Michael’s husband and bystanders then rushed to the rescue of Michael but only Joe was caught.
Justice Sir Gibbs said Joe and his accomplices had disturbed the peace of a hard working mother who was on her way to be with her family after work.
“You gave no thought to your family, only wanted to get money to buy more beer,” he ticked off Joe.
Justice Sir Gibbs said he considered Joe being a first time offender, having two children under the age of 10 and the robbery was an unplanned.
He deducted two years, one month and two weeks spent in custody and ordered Joe to serve the remaining of his sentence in Bomana Prison.