A DISTRICT court in Papua New Guinea has heard gory details of how a sadistic husband forced his wife to sew up her vagina and then beat her senselessly with the steel handle of an axe.
Fearing she would die, he fled the marital home but she recovered and with the help of relatives, limped 20km to seek medical attention.
Her account of the ordeal convinced the presiding magistrate this week to impose the maximum sentence on the husband under the tough new law on domestic violence – two years in jail and a fine of K5000.
Senior magistrate Patrick Monouluk commented during sentencing that the law should be amended to include a provision for compensation for victims of domestic violence.
The court in Tabubil, Western Province, was told on October 3 the husband Onku Amsep and his wife were at their Okma village, about 20km west of Tabubil, reflecting on their past relationships.
In the course of their discussion the wife reflected on her past relationships with men but this did not go down too well with Amsep who assaulted her.
"In the course of the assault the defendant went further and forced the victim, who in fear of her life, used a thread and a needle to sew up her vulva and closed up her vagina," Mr Monouluk said on Monday when jailing Amsep who had pleaded guilty as charged under the Family Protection Act 2013.
The court heard that the next day, October 4, Amsep continued his assault, using an axe to repeatedly strike the wife four times on her lower back until she became unconscious.
He fled the village but was caught by the villagers the next day and handed to police.
The court was told relatives helped the wife walk 20km to the Tabubil hospital.
Amsep said little during the proceedings on October 16 and 20, admitted being at fault and sought a court fine, Mr Monouluk noted. On the other hand the State, through prosecutor Sgt Stella Warmanai, called for the maximum penalty, reminding the court that the offence was widespread.
Mr Monouluk said Amsep showed no remorse or offered any apology for his crime even though at one stage in court he had offered compensation to his wife who was present.
He said while Amsep may be a villager he was not an unsophisticated individual but was educated and attended a Christian church. and had a good appreciation of good and evil.
"What we have seen is an instance akin to sadistic behaviour by the defendant to force the victim to sew up her vagina while he stood by and watch and, if that is not enough, finished off by repeatedly beating the victim on her back and then walked away as if nothing had happened oblivious to the victim’s state as she laid helpless inside the house.
"We can only imagine the pain the victim underwent as she stitched herself one by one without an anaesthetic and the excruciating pain of being hammered further with a metal axe on her back."
Mr Monouluk sentenced Amsep to two years jail "as a personal deterrent as well as to other like-minded because of the prevalence of such offences" and ordered him to pay his wife K5000.
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