Father kills family
John Amos Pakoa had taken his family to the independence celebration in 2001. After returning home, Mr. Pakoa and his wife Helly went to drink kava and returned home just before morning. Soon after he stabbed his wife in the back, killing her.
He then went to his daughter’s bed, slit her throat and stabbed her then proceeded to call his son into the house and cut his throat.
Pakoa then fled to a garden in the Le Meridian area and cut off part of his penis. He also slashed his throat; however, he did not die.
In Pakoa’s statement, the main reason why he decided to kill his entire family, is that he did not want their children to remain alive and suffer problems because of their mother.
Pakoa was guilty on 3 counts of unintentional homicide. He was sentenced to 15 years for count 1 and 2, 7 years each served cumulatively and 4 years for count 3 which he was to serve concurrently.
Man has intercourse with stepdaughter
Stanley Marango was charged for having sexual intercourse with his stepdaughter.
The victim was born to a relationship between her mother, now married to Marango, and another person from Tanna.
She was 18 years old when the act of sexual intercourse took place. She is now pregnant, while the defendant had three children in his present marriage.
Marango was found guilty and sentenced to 11 months’ imprisonment.
Man guilty of rape
Tor had recounted that he had taken the 16-year-old girl to a remote place with her aunt. While there, her aunt left to have sex with another man, Tor then raped the girl despite her telling him to stop. He was violent and had sex with her 3 times.
The judge credited Tor for his early guilty plea, and the fact that he admitted to his wrong in front of a church congregation, as part of the mitigating factors in his favor.
The normal sentence for such charges is 5 years. The judge set the starting point of the sentence at 3 years. In the end, Tor was sentenced to 2 years’ imprisonment.
Guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse
Rene Nimisa is the defendant (set exactly as what is written on PacLII) and plead guilty for unlawful sexual intercourse c/s 97 (2) Penal Code.
The sentence is six months’ imprisonment, and it was suspended for three years.
Man guilty of intentional assault causing death
Richard Ierogen was found guilty and convicted of the offence of Intentional Assault on the body of Heather Ierogen, causing damage that killed her. Richard had told the court he did not assault Heather; the court rejected this statement based on evidence it was presented.
After considering the factors of this case thoroughly, the judge sentenced Richard Ierogen to 3 years and 5 months’ imprisonment.
Disclaimer: All court documents have been sourced and summarized from PACLII website. All this information is public information and randomly chosen from the Supreme Court of Vanuatu 2022, to feature in the Daily Post every Tuesday.
SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST
