Two women sworn in – now we have 39 judges

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JUSTICE Royale Thompson and Justice Teresa Berrigan were sworn in yesterday to become judges of the National Court and Supreme Court.
They were sworn in by acting Governor-General Job Pomat. Their terms are for three years.
Their appointments bring the total number of permanent judges to 39.
There are five acting judges in the judiciary. Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia said they both brought with them “vast knowledge and experience in terms of legal and judiciary practices”.
“The two judges have been part of PNG’s judiciary system
before and are familiar with it,” he said.
Justice Thompson was born in Lae in 1954. She had her primary education in Lae and Bulolo before completing her formal
education in England and Australia. She was admitted in 1979 as a lawyer in the National Court and Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea.
From 2000 to 2012, she was a member of the PNG Law Society, Legal Training Institute and
other legal organisations in the country.
Justice Barrigan is a lawyer with more than 20 years post-qualification experience.
She has 15 years’ experience as a prosecutor in Australia, Papua New Guinea and the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
She served as an adviser to the Ombudsman Commission and other non-government organisations in Papua New Guinea from 2005 to 2010.