Enga Provincial Police Commander Chief Superintendent Steven Harris has welcomed a combined 50-year prison sentence handed down to a 22-year-old man for two separate killings linked to a cycle of tribal retaliation in Laiagam District.
Sebari Jimmy, also known as Sebari Kanjol Lylip, was sentenced by Justice Graham Ellis in the National Court sitting at Wabag last Friday in two matters heard back-to-back.
Jimmy was sentenced to 35 years’ imprisonment with hard labour for the willful murder of Jeremiah Peno, who was shot in the back at close range with a Magnum pistol at Lasambus village on September 30, 2024.
He was found guilty following a three-day trial.
In the second matter, the offender pleaded guilty to the murder of Tommy Kelata at Wairos/Aiyak village on December 29, 2024.
The attack involved the offender’s brother striking the fatal blow to the victim’s head with a bush knife, while Jimmy inflicted a further wound to the victim’s shoulder.
He was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment with hard labour, ordered to be served cumulatively on the sentence for willful murder, bringing the combined sentence to 50 years.
“These sentences send an unambiguous message to Enga Province and to Papua New Guinea as a whole that the Rule of Law will prevail.
“If you retaliate, if you take another person’s life to settle a score, a payback, or a tribal grievance, you can expect to spend between 35 and 50 years behind bars. “
“That is the reality this offender now faces, and it is the reality that awaits anyone who chooses violence over the law,” PPC Harris said in a statement yesterday.
PPC Harris said that police would not allow cycles of retaliatory killing to dictate how disputes are resolved in this Province. Every life lost to payback is a life too many, and every offender will be pursued, charged, and put before the Court.
PPC Harris commended investigators from the Wabag Criminal Investigation Division for the thorough work that connected the offender to both killings where work began when he was arrested on an unrelated matter and, through diligent follow-up interviewing and evidence-gathering, led him being charged, tried, and convicted for two separate murders committed months apart.
“This outcome reflects sustained, patient investigative work by Wabag CID. They followed the evidence, built two strong briefs, and delivered outcomes that will keep a dangerous offender off our streets for decades.”
“That is the standard of policing this Province deserves, and it is the standard Wabag CID has delivered,” PPC Harris said.
PPC also confirmed that police have received reports of further retaliatory activity connected to this matter and such reports were taken seriously and would be investigated.
PPC Harris said police were aware of reports of retribution arising from these events and made it clear that this also be investigated, and any offenders would be brought to justice.
He said taking law into their own hands would not go unanswered, but it would only extend the cycle of grief and add more names to a court list.
PPC urged the public with information relating to threats or acts of retribution connected to this matter to contact Wabag Police or the Enga Provincial Police Command.
“There is a need, particularly in this time and in this place, for the Court to make it clear that those who obtain an illegal weapon, such as a pistol or gun, and use that weapon will need to provide the Court with a good reason why a sentence of life imprisonment should not be imposed.
“This was a pre-meditated, cold-blooded murder when an unsuspecting man was shot in the back with a powerful pistol,” PPC Harris said.