When The Law Is An Ass

THE law, in its relation to its administration in the Solomon Islands, is in danger of being written down as an ass —unless something has been done or is being done of which we have no infor mation.

We refer to the astonishing history of an assault case in the Solomon Islands.

A native washboy committed an outrageous attack upon the wife of a plantation manager—a clear case of attempted rape —and it appears that he will be released this year after serving a mere twenty months’ imprisonment.

The circumstances are quite well known. The manager’s wife —a Sydney woman of good family—was attacked one morning in September, 1933, in most deliberate and determined fashion, by the washboy Punuhuru; and had she not fought him off with great strength and courage he must have achieved his pur pose, as her husband and the native ser vants were away in the plantation. Her clothes were torn off and she suffered seriously from bruises and shock, Punuhuru ran away; and, when over

taken some time later by the plantation manager, he menaced the latter with a copra knife. He did not then, or at any future time, deny his guilt.

The planter sent for the District Officer and described the urgency of the case.

The D.O., although he had the fastest launch in that part of the Group, did not put in an appearance for three days.

When he did come, he carried out his investigation in leisurely fashion, al though the unfortunate woman, by then, was in a state of nervous collapse, and it was most necessary that the enquiry be hurried on, so that she might be sent away.

The District Officer, and his superiors at Tulagi, appear to have treated the case in lackadaisical fashion, and quite un necessary weeks elapsed before the native was tried. The trial was conducted by the District Officer; and probably it will remain for all time an outstanding example of administrative muddling.

The charge was laid under Section 48 of the Offences Against the Person Act, and the D.O. held that the offence was

punishable with more than 12 months’ imprisonment and less than 7 years. But section 48 deals only with the offence of rape, for which the punishment is penal servitude for life. Attempts to commit crime are otherwise provided for, and the maximum penalty is 2 years’ imprison ment. The charge should have been laid under Section 38 of the Act—i.e., “assault with intent to ravish”—and the maximum penalty provided therefor is 2 years’ imprisonment. The procedure adopted by the D.O. was that which is provided for a preliminary investigation, and not for a trial, and therefore it was all wrong. The court finally convicted Punuhuru of an offence under Section 47 of the Act (an assault occasioning actual bodily harm) and he was awarded 5 years’ penal servitude; and the asses sors who assisted the D.O. recommended further punishment, including a flogging.

The indignant residents of the Solo mons urged that the punishment was inadequate, and the case was brought before the Supreme Court in Fiji. That Court found that Punuhuru had been convicted of something with which he was never charged. He had been charged under Section 48, and not Section 47, and therefore he could not suffer more

than the punishment provided under Sec tion 48. His 5 years of imprisonment accordingly were reduced to 2 years. The High Commissioner for the Western Pacific was perturbed over this matter, and immediately had the law amended to make it clear that flogging may be im posed for rape or indecent assault upon a white woman; but it was decided that this amendment could not be made retro spective to cover the case of Punuhuru.

That seems to have been the end of the matter. Punuhuru will be released from gaol with a clean skin about the middle of this year, after having com mitted one of the worst assaults with intent in the history of the Solomon Islands.

Meanwhile, the manager’s wife, the victim of this flash mission-educated native, has been in Sydney undergoing a series of painful operations, the result of an injury she sustained during her struggle with the native. Complacent officialdom apparently refuses to be further concerned with the case. The Dis trict Officer who was responsible for part of the ghastly legal muddle has dis appeared from the Service; the native

criminal has practically escaped punish

ment owing to a technicality; and that, says officialdom, is the end of the matter.

But, if what we hear is true, the mat ter will not end so peacefully as official dom hopes. There are men in the Solo mons —good and reputable citizens —who have declared that this flash native is not going to escape so easily. It is to be assumed that if officialdom does not find some way of having this case re-tried, and the native properly punished, then the native may disappear from mortal ken in some manner better imagined than described.

What a travesty upon justice! There are Europeans to-day in Australian prisons, condemned to long terms of hard labour because they assaulted native labourers in New Guinea. But Punuhuru, who made a most ferocious attempt to rape an unprotected European woman, and who in that attempt injured her very seriously, escapes with 20 months’ penal Mr. H. Williams and Mr. N. Judd, rep resenting Upper Sepik Gold Syndicate N.L., left Sydney for New Guinea by the Macdhui on March 14.

Mr. George H. Murray, Director of Agriculture for New Guinea, arrived in Sydney from Rabaul on extended leave by the Van Rees on March 19.

Mr. C. J. Moxon, of Guadalcanal, Solo mon Islands, returned to the Protectorate by the March Malaita.