Woman, man get 60 yrs
The National, Monday February 15th, 2016
By HENRY PAMBUAI
THE National Court in Waigani has sentenced a man and a woman from Central to 30 years imprisonment each with hard labour for the willful murder of a man from the United Kingdom.
Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika handed down the sentences to Taita Pritchard, who has an Australian citizenship, and James Paru, a soldier who served in the Bougainville crisis, for the willful murder of John Hulse on Saturday, July 23, 2011.
He described the murder of Hulse as premeditated and unnecessary.
He said there were other more civilised ways to deal with the situation Pritchard was going through at the time of the murder.
The court was told Hulse was dating a Cambodian woman before the murder. Fearing that she would lose her partner, who she had invested her money and love in, Pritchard, 42, planned the killing of Hulse out of jealousy and frustration.
She lured him to Napa Napa road outside Port Moresby under the pretext of returning his passport and his Cambodian girlfriend’s.
It was there that Hulse met Paru, 54, who shot Hulse.
In handing down his decision, Sir Gibbs told Pritchard that she could have taken Hulse to court if she wanted to recoup the money she invested in him.
He told her that Hulse was not the only man in the world as there were others who could fill in the void left by Hulse when he began seeing his Cambodian girlfriend.
“John has lost his life forever. You will lose yours for some time,” Sir Gibbs said.
“Taita, you should take all the blame for this, for putting James into this.
“You used James to carry out your plans and James agreed.”
He told Pritchard who undertook nursing courses in Australia that she was an educated person who should have known better than to resort to the murder of her former lover.
Three months each were deducted from their sentences for the time spent in custody.