Aro (murderer)

{{Short description|Papua New Guinean murder}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}

Aro (died 16 November 1957) was a Papua New Guinean murderer notable for being the last person executed in Papua New Guinea.

Aro was a young man{{cite web | title=PNG urged to abandon death penalty | publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation | date=2007-11-12| url=https://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s2087787.htm | access-date=2022-04-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221220046/https://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s2087787.htm|archive-date=2021-12-21|url-status=live}} from Rupamanda, Wabag in the Western Highlands District of the Territory of New Guinea.{{cite web |last=Hardy|first=Graham|title=Murder trial of Aro of Rupamanda | website=Papua New Guinea Association of Australia | date=2015-09-16 | url=https://pngaa.org/murder-trial-of-aro-of-rupamanda-graham-hardy/ | access-date=2022-04-03}} Aro had suffered a spear injury as a youth, and he was largely unemployed, being supported by his two wives Tipiwan and Ruai, along with his family.{{sfn|Chisholm|2020|p=169}} On 10 April 1957, he murdered his two wives with an axe. Aro then visited one of his relatives working in a hospital, confessing and asking the relative to take care of his children, and turned himself in at the sub-district headquarters office.{{sfn|Chisholm|2020|p=170}} According to court testimony, Aro was suspecting his wives of adultery.{{sfn|Chisholm|2020|p=169}}

On 9 August, Aro was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was flown from Mount Hagen to Lae, where he was executed by hanging on 16 November and buried.{{sfn|Chisholm|2020|p=173}}

The death penalty in Papua New Guinea was abolished in 1970, five years before Papua New Guinea's independence from Australia. It was reintroduced in 1991, but never applied.