Cannibal? Arihano Haiti, 33, was found guilty of killing Stefan Ramin
on Nuku Hiva, in French Polynesia, and sexually assaulting his
girlfriend
A South Sea Islander accused of killing and eating a German adventurer has been jailed for 28 years for murder. Arihano
Haiti, 33, a registered tourist guide, was found guilty of killing
Stefan Ramin on Nuku Hiva, in French Polynesia, and sexually assaulting
his girlfriend.
A judge ruled that Haiti would have no possibility
of parole until he has served at least 18 years of his near
three-decade sentence.
Mr Ramin, 40, and his girlfriend had been
on an island hopping adventure in the South Pacific when he was killed
and she was assaulted.
The crime shocked the tiny island of Nuku
Hiva which, with a population of just more than 2,000, was previously
best known from the stories of Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick.
Haiti
was first arrested in 2011, amid claims that he had taking Mr Ramin
hunting then killed him, carved him up and eaten parts of his body
before setting fire to what remained.
He then returned to where Mr Ramin's girlfriend was waiting, tied her up and sexually assaulted her.
He fled when she escaped and raised the alarm, going on the run for 50 days before giving himself up.
A
French Polynesian court heard that investigators were unable to prove
the claims of cannibalism and prosecutors accused Haiti of shooting the
German man with a bullet in the head, cutting up the body and then
burning it.
Mr Ramin and his girlfriend had moored their Turkish-bought catamaran
Baju off the coast of Nuku Hiva on September 16, as part of a planned
two-year stint island hopping around Polynesia.
Mr Ramin had hired Haiti - a guide registered with authorities on the
island - to take him into the island's interior on a goat hunt. He
never returned.
Police say Haiti went back to the boat to try to
lure Mr Ramin's girlfriend into the jungle by claiming that Mr Ramin had
had an accident and needed help.
Desperate claims: Haiti had claimed in his defence that he shot Mr Ramin and attacked his girlfriend because the German had sexually
assaulted him
She was suspicious and refused to go with him, but he had then ended up sexually assaulting her anyway and tying her to a tree.
After she escaped human and alerted authorities, Mr Ramin's burnt remains were found.
Among the embers investigators found a jaw bone, teeth and melted metal - believed to be fillings.
Mr
Ramin, a fanatical sailor, was a former business adviser. He kept a
regular blog of his trip which begun in 2008 and one of his last entries
read: 'I seek freedom and adventures'.
On Facebook, he listed
his interests as 'travelling, blue water sailing, kiting, kitesurfing,
windsurfing, surfing, diving... actually everything which one can do on
and under the water'.
Haiti had claimed in his defence that he
shot Mr Ramin because the German had sexually assaulted him. After
killing Mr Ramin, he said, he decided to sexually assault his girlfriend
in revenge for his own assault.
But detectives in Germany
working together with the local investigators say they had found no
evidence that the German had had any homosexual tendencies.
together with the local investigators say they had found no evidence
that the German had any homosexual tendencies
A lawyer for the dead man's family, Yves Pirou, said that the accused's allegations were a pure work of fiction.
He
said the reality was exactly the opposite and while there was no
indication that the victim had any homosexual tendencies, Haiti was
known to have had regular contact with transvestites and the probability
is far more likely that he had raped Mr Ramin or at least tried to rape
him.
This was backed up by investigators who pointed out that
Haiti was physically far bigger and stronger than Mr Ramin. In addition a
physical examination of Haiti after he was arrested had shown no
indication that he had had suffered any sexual assault.
Haiti's
lawyer Vincent Dubois said that the hunter was not a monster and argues
that it was clear something went wrong on the trip to the mountain.
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