NEWS

• Report unlawful sexual intercourse to police: VPF May 19, 2022

  The Vanuatu Police Force (VPF) is calling on the public to report unlawful sexual intercourse offences to the police. This way, offenders can be prosecuted through the justice system, instead of settling offences in the customary way. In 2020, a suspect who is a landlord, committed sexual violence against an 8-year-old girl in Port Vila. The Family Protection Unit (FPU) last week received a report about a custom ceremony that was performed following the crime. The suspect offered the little girl money to show her pornographic pictures and videos. Family members found out about it this year when they questioned the girl about the money she had been spending on sweets. The suspect paid a fine when performing the custom ceremony. VPF said in a statement that such sexual acts are unlawful and offenders can be punished up to lifetime imprisonment. In this case, the suspect has paid a fine, but what about the victim who will live with the impact of the act, VPF has questioned. “The suspect paid a fine, but what about the future of the little girl? She will be traumatized and will grow up in fear,” VPF stressed. The suspect was arrested last weekend. He was charged for committing an act of indecency with a young person and for unlawful sexual intercourse. In its statement, the VPF warned parents to protect their children, particularly girls from sexual abuses. “Sexual violence cases are very serious and have high penalties,” VPF stated. “These include rape, sexual assault, child sexual assault and incest and sexual harassment. Under the law, they can only be prosecuted in court. “Anyone can experience sexual violence, children, adolescents, the elderly and old and people with disability. People who commit sexual violence can be a family member, a trusted individual or a stranger.” According to the statement from VPF, the FPU has recorded 10 domestic violence cases and three sexual intercourse without consent cases, from March to April this year.  All cases are now with the Prosecution. Suspects in sexual intercourse without consent cases are on remand, waiting to appear in court for their cases. For the domestic violence cases, the suspects have been given bail, waiting for court hearing. SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST

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• Don’t Abolish Justice Ministry: President May 19, 2022

  Head of State, Pastor Obed Moses Tallis, has called on the Loughman-led Government not to abolish the Ministry of Justice and Community Services. “In my observation during my 5-year term as the Head of State, the judiciary in Vanuatu under the leadership of the Chief Justice plays an important role in stability, growth and progress of the nation for its uniqueness and independency,” the President said. “To cherish the stages of the third pillar of the Constitution, I urge the government to carefully consider its decision to abolish the Ministry of Justice. It is important that the government maintain the Ministry of Justice. “Without the judiciary, there will no effective work from the government and there will be no prosecution. The work of the Vanuatu Police Force will have no basis and there will be a dictatorial system in place.” The President made the call in his remarks during the opening of the 2022 First Ordinary Session of Parliament on Thursday. In response, Prime Minister Bob Loughman said the government notes the significance of the Ministry of Justice. “The government’s policy to restructure the Ministry of Justice is not to reduce the importance of justice and the function of the judiciary,” PM Loughman said. “It is a simple matter of the executive realigning its priorities.” The PM reflected that in July 29, 2022, the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with its key partners to construct Vanuatu’s new Hall of Justice Complex. In acknowledging the development partners, Loughman said the design of the Complex is in progress and he believes by the end of the 2022, the signing of the contract to construct the complex is something to look forward to. SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST

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• Court briefs – 17 May 2022 May 19, 2022

  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 Anderson Tor pleaded guilty to one offence of rape, although there were three acts of sexual intercourse in a short time. 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

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• Man found guilty of sex offences jailed for 10 years May 19, 2022

  A 34-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, after being found guilty of several sexual offences and threatening language against a 22-year-old female. Willie Namuli threaten to hit Fricka Bule on the head with a rock and throw her body down the rocky slope at Fatumauri Bay in Port Vila if she did not have sexual intercourse with him. This happened after they both consumed alcohol at the Anchor Inn bar on August 23, 2020. After forcing her to undress and performing oral sex on him, he followed her down the slope as she was looking for a bus to get her away from there, without success. He followed her back to Anchor Inn and they later went home together on a bus with a group of their acquaintances. On the way, Bule told the driver to let her off at Tagabe Bridge, but Namuli overruled her and told the driver to continue on to Blacksands. At Blacksands, she tried to escape from Namuli but he ran after her and instructed her rudely to stop. He swore at her, pulled her hair and threaten to tear up her guts and slice her up to her mouth with a knife, if she attempted to run away again. He then took her to a deserted house where he forced her to have sexual intercourse with him again. Namuli stopped when someone called out. The maximum penalty for sexual intercourse without consent is life imprisonment, and 3 years imprisonment for threatening language. There was no mitigating aspect to the offending. Aggravating factors include the repeated nature of the sexual assaults, use of knife and a rock to reinforce threats, lack of protection used exposing Bule to unwanted pregnancy and/or sexually transmitted disease, additional indignities imposed on Bule, pre-meditation, the age difference between them as well as the difference in physical size and the quasi breach of trust-they were well known to each other and Namuli considered Bule’s father to be his uncle. Judge Gustaaf Andrée Wiltens imposed a sentence starting point of 10 years and 6 months imprisonment on a global concurrent basis, for all offences. The sentence was reduced by 6 months, due to his personal factors. Namuli has three children with his de facto partner. He is the sole breadwinner for his family, working as a driver for Port Vila Hardware and has no previous convictions. “He has already served 15 days in custody prior to being granted bail; and he was incarcerated following the publishing of the verdict on March 2, 2022,” Judge Wiltens stated in the verdict on April 26, 2022. “To preserve his parole rights, his sentence will accordingly commence as from February 2022.” Namuli was given 14 days to appeal the sentence. SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST

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• Parents skeptical about Home-school Packages March 31, 2022

  Many parents and teachers have criticised the Home-school Packages (HSPs) provided by the Government because they believe it is not effective for students. Parents and teachers on Malekula, Pentecost and Ambae said the HSPs offered to children around the country during this COVID-19 lockdown could prove disastrous for their education. In the recent weeks, schools around the country have distributed lesson packages to the children following the announcement of Level 3 alert. The community outbreak has caused schools to closed their doors. The Government through the ministry and the department of education and training have published the audio and written HSP and have managed access online. But some teachers said the HSPs are too general. At Melsisi Primary and Secondary School, teachers had gathered to discuss how to adapt the content of the HSPs to the situation of their school and their students. On Malekula, Lakatoro school had distributed HSPs to students intending for students to only rely on this for 3 days. Teachers did not expect that the lockdown restrictions would be extended for another two weeks. The local lockdown at Lakatoro ended last Friday, but now schools on the island are to abide by nationwide lockdown imposed by the government. In Port Vila, Sainte Jeanne d’Arc school teachers met on Monday and Tuesday to discuss the HSPs and selected the lessons that are suitable for their students. On Monday, grade 4 and grade 6 teachers met to finalize their own school packages and on Tuesday, their colleagues of year 1 to year 3 were back at school to finalize theirs. Sainte Jeanne d’Arc school has now created a Facebook account for the school as one of the ways for the students to communicate with their teachers. Parents have already started to collect the lessons home package for their children. Concerning the parents, Chief Visisio Bubunbah from Vansemakul in Central Pentecost believes the HSPs will not help children. “I can understand and speak a bit of French, but what about the parents who can’t understand Bislama, French and English,” he questioned. “At home, I have a granddaughter who is studying at Ranwadi high school. “She is asking me questions when she does not understand her lessons. I can help her in some fields that i have a little knowledge on, such as agriculture. But as for the other lessons, I can’t help.” The Chief explained that teachers have been trained to deal with the difficulties of a child’s studies, but not the parents. He said maybe in Port and Luganville the government’s HSPs will work, but not in the islands as the environment in the village cannot be compared to town life because there are more challenges. “In the villages, parents will think more about their gardens than the education of their children. I even saw some parents who took their children with them to work in the garden,’’ chief Bubunbah said. Parents and teachers share the view that the virus is here to stay, and the Government should find ways for the students to learn despite the virus, but not by HSPs. A teacher claimed the HSP was drafted in a rush last year and it need more attention by the education authorities. Another teacher said the important thing for the children now is to keep e-learning while they are at home because languages are always barriers in the learning system for students. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) said the HSPs are intended to give children the opportunity to continue their education, while in lockdown and to give teachers enough time to prepare HSPs that align with their scheme of work. “To implement all the preparedness plan, the Curriculum Development Unit has prepared a standard HSP for ECCE, Primary and Junior Secondary for 10 weeks, to ensure continuity of children’s learning at home,” said Minister responsible for Education, Samson Samsen. Additionally, the HSP is intended to be easy teach packages that are inclusive to all students. This means it caters to students with special needs as well. Minister Samsen said all the activities within the HSP, should be taught according to the instructions given and to respect each child’s level, making sure parents give the right amount of work. In some activities, teachers can adapt the instructions to ensure child with additional needs can join. All teachers are also reminded to continue with developing HSPs, making sure that all the instructions given is simplified and should be understood easily by all parties concerned. Teachers can prepare a timetable for parents to follow up on the children’s HSPs. “If parents are busy with work during this lockdown, more senior students can help by leading the group and all the lessons, or a member of the family can do so,” Minister Samsen said. On behalf of the MoET, Minister Samsen appealed to everyone to help with the delivery of education, using the HSPs. “We would like for parents and teachers to work together as much as possible, and not just limiting their efforts to the distribution of HSPs, but to follow up the progress of learning,” he said. “Teachers and school administrations should provide their contact details should parents need to contact them for additional assistance. Most parents have access to smartphones and thus, use social media platforms like Facebook. We therefore, encourage all schools to create their own FB page/group to allow ease of communication to all levels.” The MoET shares that it has three Facebook pages for ECCE, Primary and Secondary, namely ECCE Home School, MoET Vanuatu; Primary School Home School, MoET Vanuatu; Secondary School Home School and MoET Vanuatu. Parents are encouraged to access these pages and ask questions. SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST

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