[2][3] Within the Pacific Islands Forum, all countries (albeit not PNG) have either completely abolished capital punishment or have refrained from imposing it for numerous decades.
The Government at the time justified its actions by arguing that it was aligning legislation to reflect public perception that there was a necessity to deter abhorrent behaviour.
According to Bernard Narokobi (the Justice Minister at the time), "it reflected the community's outrage and disgust"[10] at heinous criminal offences.
Despite his support for Papua New Guinean communities to express their views, Narokobi made it clear that he did not endorse the move towards the re-introduction of capital punishment.
Following this, Nowak also suggested that PNG become party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (the ICCPR) and ratify the second optional protocol,[15] aimed at abolishing the death penalty worldwide.
The Constitutional Law Reform Commission discussed capital punishment in a public forum which was held in 11/2014,[22] following the report given to the government on preferred methods.
[27] On 20 February 1995 Charles Bougapa Ombusu was the first person to be sentenced to death after PNG's re-introduction of capital punishment in 1991, following his supposed "fatal shooting of the father of a girl he had raped"[28] in Popondetta, Northern Province.
The trial judge deemed the facts of the case to accord with the worst kind of wilful murder and thus sentenced each of the appellants to death.
Following the 2013 amendment of the Criminal Code, the government introduced lethal injection, gas inhalation,[36] firing squad, and electrocution,[37] in addition to hanging.
[38] The commission travelled to the United States, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore "in order to provide advice to the government on what methods of execution should be adopted".
[40] There were three situations in which a sentence of capital punishment would have been rejected: minors at the time the offence was committed; pregnant women; and mentally ill persons.
[41] PNG ratified the ICCPR[42] and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC),[43] both of which are international instruments that prohibit the execution of a person under 18.
Imposing capital punishment for murder in PNG was prescribed in section 299(2) of the Criminal Code Act 1974 and was validated by the country's constitution.
However, it is not party to the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which is aimed at abolishing capital punishment.