Police v Taruia [2012] CKHC 45; CR527,531,603.2012 (5 September 2012)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF THE COOK ISLANDS
HELD AT RAROTONGA
(CRIMINAL DIVISION)

CR NO'S 527/12, 531/12 & 603/12

POLICE

v

TEOKOTAI TARUIA

Hearing: 5 September 2012
Counsel: Mr N Ngatokorua for the Police
Mr C Petero for the Defendant

Sentence: 5 September 2012

SENTENCING NOTES OF WESTON CJ

[1] Mr Taruia, you are here today for sentence having pleaded guilty to three burglary offences. Two of those took place in June – on 21 and 22 June 2012 – and the third following your arrest for those earlier ones and that was on the 1st August.

[2] In the first of the offences you broke into The Treasure Chest. You stole property but most of that was recovered. The next one, on 22 June, was a break into a private house. And on the 1st August 2012 you also broke into a private house, and the Crown in their submissions point to this as an aggravating feature. That is, you broke into someone's house and that means they see that as a more serious offence than breaking into someone's business. However, there is no doubt that all three of these offences are regarded as serious and each one carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.

[3] The Crown has drawn attention to your substantial record. You have been imprisoned on many occasions and indeed the offences in June of this year took place shortly after you had been released from prison for previous offending.

[4] A common feature of all the materials before me is that you have some mental health issues and out of those materials I have found a report by Dr Daniela particularly helpful. No-one in the Courtroom was too sure about who she was but it is plain from her report that she is a thorough and conscientious specialist and certainly if she could continue to have some involvement in your future health management then that is to be encouraged.

[5] In her report of 18 July 2012 she refers to various accidents that you have had involving damage to your head – you fell off a tree when you were seven, you had a motor vehicle accident when you were fifteen. She says she has not been able to find any further details to confirm what you say but she comes to the conclusion that what she sees in your condition is consistent with head injuries. She also records that you like being in jail because it is clear and structured with a predictable routine. It may be that that is one view of it but the fact that you escaped from Mr Hosking the other day, rather than be sentenced, may mean that it is not quite as black and white as that. Certainly it seems that your time with Mr Hosking was a positive one and he provided the routine that you clearly need.

[6] Dr Daniela also refers to various addictive behaviours that you have – drinking alcohol, smoking cannabis, sniffing petrol and the like, and that doesn't seem to have helped you either. The assessment that she makes is that you are vulnerable both in the community but also in prison and that really you need some significant intervention to help you with these mental health issues. She is concerned that you are vulnerable to exploitation by other offenders and she has real doubts about whether sending you to prison is going to provide any therapeutical or rehabilitative function and she sets out the sort of treatment that she thinks that you would need. Unfortunately none of this treatment is available as of right in the Cook Islands. Plainly though someone such as yourself needs that assistance.

[7] Today there really is no option other than to sentence you to prison for what you have done. The offending of itself is at the low end but the consistency of it and your appalling record of burglary means that a significant term of imprisonment must be imposed if nothing else to protect the people who live here from your behaviour. And I say that even if your behaviour does have mental health issues lying behind it. The fact of the matter is that people who live here are entitled to be safe in their homes and, with what you have done, people have not been safe in their homes.

[8] The Crown sought a term of imprisonment of 9 to 12 months and Mr Petero accepted the inevitability of that sort of timeframe. We discussed the availability of mental health assistance while you were in prison. Mr Petero mentioned that last week when I sentenced Mr Manuel I gave directions that there should be such steps as could be taken to assist him and left it to Ms Rokoika to act as the conscience of the process as I determined it.

[9] So what I am going to do here is sentence you to a term of imprisonment Mr Taruia for 12 months. You will go to prison from today for 12 months. The time that you have served over the last few days will not be taken into account so that sentence will run from today and automatically when you leave there will be a term of probation which will follow that because your imprisonment is 12 months or more.

[10] And I would hope that there may be scope for Mr Hosking to continue to be involved with your management when you are released. That, however, is a matter to be resolved at the time.

[11] I expressly direct that the Ministry should take all possible steps to ensure you have treatment for your undoubted mental health problems and I reserve leave to Mr Petero to return to the Court for further directions or assistance if they are needed from the Court in order to get something to happen.

_______________________
Tom Weston
Chief Justice