Papua New Guinea's National Court has sentenced a 35-year-old man to death for the murder of two teenage boys.
It is only the second time the ultimate penalty has been handed down in PNG, where a death sentence has yet to be carried out.
National Court judge Justice Gibbs Salika yesterday sentenced Port Moresby resident Arua Maraga Hariki to death for wilfully killing two youths in April 2001.
The sentence can be appealed against.
The court heard that Hariki had been drinking in his village one night when he drove to a neighbouring village to buy more beer.
There he offered two youths a lift back to his village.
They sat around drinking whiskey until Hariki suddenly strangled one of the youths.
The other teenager was asleep in the back of the ute.
Justice Salika found that Hariki then went over to the ute and strangled the other teenager.
"It appears that one person was not enough, so the prisoner took the life of another," Justice Salika said in his ruling, published in The National newspaper.
Justice Salika said the punishment would be hanging of the offender by his neck until he was dead.
The time and place of the execution was yet to be set by the Governor-General.
As PNG's crimes have become more violent in recent years there have been growing calls to execute criminals.
But PNG's major newspapers were divided on whether there was popular support for executions.
PNG's Post-Courier said yesterday's sentencing would "go down well with a community that has been bullied and forced behind two-metre fences by criminals".
"The call is clear from the public - they want tougher action against crime."
The National newspaper doubted most Papua New Guineans supported the use of the death penalty.
Post Courier