Stronger penalties needed: Judge

By JIMMY KALEBE
THE theft of vehicles and other valuable property is becoming prevalent and stronger penalties need to be legislated, a judge in Lae says.
Justice Lawrence Kangwia said the maximum prescribed penalty of seven years imprisonment was low and no longer served as a deterrent.
He said the penalty did not cater for the value of the stolen property such as when goods of substantial value were taken, especially vehicles with containers full of cargo.
Justice Kangwia said there was a need for a significant increase in penalties for those who received or bought stolen property.
“Times have changed and people use sophisticated ways to steal,” he said.
Justice Kangwia said laws governing this and related offences needed to be harsher as this crime impacted jobs, the community and economy.
He made these remarks when sentencing Keith Jerry Aitikus, 40, from Bukawa, Morobe, to five years imprisonment with hard labour at Buimo jail, on Nov 16.
The brief facts in court stated that Aitikus, in the company of two others, produced a duplicate key to a white Landcruiser (10-seater), drove it away and kept it at 4-Mile and later sold it to a man from Laiagam, Enga. Proceeds were shared among Aitikus and two others; the defendant got K5,000 from the sale.
His two co-accused were sentenced to five and three years respectively
The time Aitikus spent in custody was deducted from his sentence.
In another vehicle theft case, Justice Kangwia sentenced a 33-year-old widowed father of four to four years imprisonment with hard labour at Buimo jail. Philimon Towa, while employed as a driver of a company in Lae, planned with his accomplices to fake a hold-up as he went to refuel a company vehicle.
After refuelling, Towa drove with his accomplices to Muya outside Lae and left his accomplices with the vehicle, got on a bus and came back to Lae making up a story about being held up and the car being stolen. The vehicle was later located at Transgogol in Madang.