Pacific / Papua New Guinea

PNG man jailed for life for murder of 10 Chinese nationals

08:50 am on 16 March 2022

Photo: Copyright: niyazz / 123RF Stock Photo

A man who killed 10 Chinese nationals in a robbery in a shop on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea nearly five years ago, has been jailed for life by the National Court.

The National newspaper reports Justice Vergil Narokobi telling 31 year old Graham Floyd Peter, of Likum village that it was a "crime of sadistic cruelty, of colossal proportion."

He told the killer that he had developed a deep hatred after losing his job with one of the people he later murdered.

Peter's co-accused Robillo Micah and Nathan Boas were discharged after the State presented a no wish to prosecute notice for both of them.

The court heard that in the early hours of Sept 22nd, 2017, Peter and his accomplices broke into a shop in Lorengau on Manus, took an undisclosed sum of money and set the building on fire, killing 10 Chinese nationals.

The 10 killed were five men and five women.

The court heard that there was no direct evidence of Peter's involvement, except that he confessed to the crime to three witnesses, who were his close relatives.