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

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. Aro was a young man from Rupamanda,

Wabag Wabag is the capital of Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. It is the least populous provincial capital in the country. It is on the Lai River; the Highlands Highway passes through the town, between Mount Hagen and Porgera. Europeans first visited th ...

in the Western Highlands District of the

Territory of New Guinea The Territory of New Guinea was an Australian-administered League of Nations and then United Nations trust territory on the island of New Guinea from 1914 until 1975. In 1949, the Territory and the Territory of Papua were established in an adm ...

. 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. 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. According to court testimony, Aro was suspecting his wives of adultery. On 9 August, Aro was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was flown from

Mount Hagen Mount Hagen () is the third largest city in Papua New Guinea, with a population of 46,250. It is the capital of the Western Highlands, Papua New Guinea, Western Highlands Province and is located in the large fertile Wahgi Valley in central mainlan ...

Lae Lae (, , later ) is the capital of Morobe Province and is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located near the delta of the Markham River on the northern coast of Huon Gulf. It is at the start of the Highlands Highway, which is ...

, where he was executed by hanging on 16 November and buried. 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.

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* 1957 deaths 20th-century murderers People executed for murder Executed Papua New Guinean people People executed by Papua New Guinea by hanging 20th-century executions by Papua New Guinea People convicted of murder by Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinean people convicted of murder Year of birth missing Uxoricides Violence against women in Papua New Guinea {{criminal-stub

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