Supreme Court Halves
p. 22 · Read in the full issue
Robertson
Case
Supreme Court Halves Severe Sentence
rpHE sentence of three months X imposed by Magistrate O’Driscoll on Miss Patricia Robertson in August, was reduced by half by the Supreme Court in Port Moresby on Sep tember 25. (PIM September, page 19).
Miss Robertson was released from Bomana Gaol on October 10.
The Chief Justice, Sir Beaumont Phillips, found that in passing sentence, Mr. O’Driscoll had been “swayed excessively by a desire to deter other offenders, and did not take sufficiently into account her previous good character.”
He said, however, that he agreed with the Magistrate that the offence was a serious one. (Miss Robertson was charged with disclosing the details of an Admini stration telegram to a newspaper).
He said that had only a fine been imposed, the possible assistance given her by the newspaper for which she was part-time corres pondent, would have made her punishment negligible.
Sentence Fixed on Ability
to Pay
The layman’s reading of the above observation of the Judge seems to suggest that if a person is taken before a court for an offence for which a fine is usually considered adequate, and if it is suspected that some remote rela 1 tion, friend or outsider, will assist in the paying of it, or if, indeed, the accused’s financial position is such that a fine can easily be met, then a gaol sentence must be imposed.
In other words, the punishment for any specific offence is not apportioned in relation to the seriousness of the offence, but only on the accused’s ability to pay.