Two people convicted on Nov 11, 2015 for the willful murder of a British man in Port Moresby in 2011 have been sentenced to 30 years each.
The National Court sentenced Taita Prichard (42) and her cousin James Paru(35) to serve the remaining 29 years and 9 months after they spent three months in custody.
Prichard, a Papua New Guinean and naturalized Australian citizen was found guilty of planning and using Paru to willfully murder her former lover, John Hulse at Napanapa outside Port Moresby on July 23,2011.
The court found Paru, a former military personnel, shot John Hulse with a gun using bullets he bought at Sabama.
Deputy Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika when sentencing the duo said it was a case of jealousy and frustration on Prichard’s part when she realized she had lost John’s (deceased) love to his new Cambodian girlfriend.
He described it as premeditated and cold blooded when both prisoners led the deceased to his death at Napanapa to hand over passports belonging to him and his new girlfriend.
“You and John had plans. You also spent a lot of your money in investments and even sold your house in Australia to lend him money. You had a good thing going till he had a Cambodian woman in his life."
Sir Gibbs said it was obvious that with a new woman in John’s life, Prichard would not have him as her husband or benefit from her investments in his life.
“You used James to carry out your plan. Why the exchange out there (Napanapa) when you could have done it in a more civilized place? I cannot understand, you led him to his death trap.
“Taita you should be blamed for putting James through all these mess. Frustration and jealously got the best of you and you got James to do the job for you” Sir Gibbs told Prichard in court as she stood fighting back tears.
Sir Gibbs said she could have opted to take the deceased to court to repay all her monies.
Records of calls and text history from the day of the murder were obtained from Digicel and tendered as evidence that assisted the state in their case against Prichard and Paru.
The court found that James called John (diseased) at 10:41 am and the last time anyone had heard from John was 11:09am.
The court also found that by 12:35pm, John was already dead and Paru had abandoned his car near Kouko after he shot him and drove off.
Prichard and John Hulse were intimately involved since 2008 after Prichard was widowed.