State v Koroi [2010] FJHC 82; HAC189.2008 (10 March 2010)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF FIJI

AT SUVA
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

Criminal Case No: HAC189 of 2008

STATE

V

MEREONI KOROI

Date of Hearing: 9th March 2010
Date of Sentence: 10th March 2010

Counsel: Ms P. Madanavosa for State
Ms S. Vaniqi for Accused

SENTENCE

[1] Mereoni Koroi, you stand convicted of manslaughter of Savenaca Cavalevu, following a trial on a charge of murder.

[2] The facts paint a disturbing relationship you were in with the deceased. The deceased was your de-facto partner. You have been in the relationship for a while before the incident on 18 November 2008. The relationship was not founded on trust and love but on abuse, humiliation and exploitation.

[3] You were physically and emotionally abused by the deceased in the relationship. He was basically living of your earnings as a sex worker.

[4] On 18 November 2008, you were renting a room at the Kings Hotel. The deceased was living with you. Both of you had consumed substantial amount of alcohol throughout the night and during the daytime before the incident of stabbing. You had numerous arguments with the deceased during the daytime. At one stage, you chased the deceased out of your room with the assistance of a security officer at the hotel. After a few hours, the deceased returned to your room and apologized to you. You allowed him in the room. As he lay on the bed, he started passing degrading remarks to you. He said to you that he wanted to perform sexual acts to your girlfriends who were within close vicinity and could hear the remarks of the deceased.

[5] You took a kitchen knife that was beside the bed and stabbed the deceased twice on the chest. You remained in the room after stabbing the deceased. The deceased died on the same day from excessive blood loss as a result of the chest wounds. The police arrived and arrested you. You fully cooperated with the police. In your caution interview, you told the police about your abusive relationship and that you were very drunk and provoked by the deceased.

[6] When you appeared in court, you offered to plead guilty to manslaughter by reason of provocation but the State declined to accept your plea and maintained the murder charge against you.

[7] I take into account all that was said in your mitigation. You are 35 years old and currently unemployed. You have attained form one education. You come from a disadvantaged background. You have three previous convictions. Two convictions are for minor offences and one is for larceny. Your convictions are more than three years old. Except for this case, you do not have any history of use of violence. I do not give any weight to your previous convictions.

[8] The maximum penalty prescribed for manslaughter is life imprisonment. Cases on sentencing for manslaughter indicate a tariff of between a suspended sentence to 12 years imprisonment (Kim Nam Bae v. The State Criminal Appeal AAU0015/1998S). A suspended sentence is usually reserved for cases where the provocation was grave and the degree of violence inflicted minimal.

[9] In this case the degree of violence inflicted by you was not minimal. Indeed the use of a knife to stab a victim is a serious matter. Such act cannot be condoned by the court. However, there can be no doubt at all that the victim’s conduct was gravely provocative. Suggesting that he wanted to perform sexual acts to your girlfriends when he was living of you and abusing and exploiting you, was the last straw that triggered you to behave the way you did. Otherwise, you are not a violent person.

[10] Given the nature of the attack on the victim, I start at 4 years imprisonment. The aggravating factors are the use of a weapon to inflict the fatal injuries and the fact that the offence was committed in a state of intoxication.

[11] The mitigating factors are your cooperation with the police and the court, your offer of guilty plea to manslaughter and your disadvantaged background. I add one year for the aggravating factors and subtract two years for the mitigating factors.

[12] You have spent seven months in custody while awaiting trial, which is equivalent of twelve months with an entitlement of one third remission. I deduct twelve months for time spent in custody and arrive at a term of two years imprisonment.

[13] I would suspend this sentence, relying on the principles in the domestic abuse cases such as State v. Leba (unreported) HAC0021 of 2003; State v. Toroca (unreported) HAC0006 of 2004; State v. Darshani (unreported) HAC0007 of 2005).

[14] The abuse, humiliation and exploitation that you suffered at the hands of the deceased in your relationship was not only a grave form of provocation but was an injustice to you because of your vulnerability as a woman.

[15] For these reasons, I consider it just to suspend your sentence for two years. If you re-offend for the next two years, you may have this sentence re-activated in addition to any term imposed for the subsequent offence.

[16] I sentence you to 2 years imprisonment suspended for 2 years.

Daniel Goundar
JUDGE

At Suva
10th March 2010

Solicitors:
Office of the DPP for State
Office of the Legal Aid Commission for Accused