Two men found guilty of murdering asylum seeker Reza Barati will spend just over three more years in prison, Papua New Guinea police say.
An asylum-seeker holds a picture of Reza Barati who died at the detention centre. Photo: AAP
Two former workers at Australia's offshore detention centrre on PNG's Manus Island, Joshua Kaluvia and Louie Efi, were sentenced yesterday to 10 years' jail, suspended after five years, for killing the Iranian man during a riot in February 2014.
The court heard Kaluvia repeatedly hit the 23-year-old on the head with a piece of wood with a nail in the end of it, before Efi dropped a large rock on his head.
PNG police said because of time already spent at Lorengau Jail on Manus Island, the two men would spend just over three further years in prison.
Detainees at the offshore detention centre say they are dismayed at the sentence and the fact that it was partially suspended.
The main witness in the case, Barati's roommate Benham Satah, said he was worried that other people allegedly involved in the killing had not been charged.
They include one Australian and one New Zealander.
Staff accommodation block at Manus Island Detention Centre in PNG Photo: EMTV
Manus Provincial Police Commander David Yapu said the decision by the National Court was a relief and that the jailing would reflect positively on PNG's justice system.
The commander commended detectives on the case for their persistence.
Kaluvia was recaptured twice after evading arrest.
A senate inquiry in December 2014 found the cause of the riot in which Mr Barati died to be a failure to process asylum seeker claims, stating the violence was imminently foreseeable.
It also found the Australian government failed in its duty to protect asylum seekers including Mr Barati.
