State v Temo - Sentence [2012] FJHC 1130; HAC60.2011 (30 May 2012)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF FIJI
AT LABASA
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

Criminal Case No. 060 of 2011

BETWEEN:

STATE
Prosecution

AND:

LEPANI TEMO
Accused

BEFORE : Mr. Justice Paul K. Madigan
COUNSEL : Ms. M. Fong for State
Mr. S. Waqainabete (L.A.C.) for Accused

Dates of Hearing : 21 and 22 May 2012
Date of Ruling : 22 May 2012

Date of Summing Up : 29 May 2012
Date of Judgment : 29 May 2012

Date of Sentencing : 30 May 2012

SENTENCING

1. Lepani Temo, you have been convicted by this court after trial of the offence of murder. You did on the 19th November, 2011 at Soqulu in Taveuni murder Susanna Niubalavu.
   
2. Susanna was everything to you. She was your cousin, she was your lover, and she was your farming lessor and your farming boss. She had been separated from her husband but he returned to the family and Susanna wanted to terminate the romantic attachment to you. You were not happy with this because it impinged on your farming work and in addition you had lost a friend among the sea of enemies you perceived to be against you in the community.
   
3. You lay in wait for her on the 19th November armed with a cane knife and when she emerged from her home in the late afternoon to attend a fund raising gathering with her friend, Maria, you followed them and then chased Susanna onto the property of a neighbour. She was scared, she fell and you inflicted blows on her with your cane knife. One blow to her neck was with such force that it cut right through her wind pipes and severed the vertebrae at the back of her neck. If there is anything fortunate in this incident it is that the pathologist told the Court that she could not have possibly survived such an attack for more than a minute or two.
   
4. Your counsel in comprehensive written submissions has asked that a lenient minimum term be imposed in the interests of his being able to reunite with his new family and become a responsible member of the community again.
   
5. Whilst the imposition of minimum terms does in part represent the degree of seriousness of the crime, I must however take into account the likelihood of reoffending and the need to protect the community. The accused has a technical clear record, not having offended in the past 10 years, yet by his own evidence he is a person who creates tension in the community and has, at least in Taveuni, created many enemies. He is what could be described as a "misfit ".
   
6. Lepani Temo, you have shown no remorse in this matter apart from one day of co-operation with the Police when you confessed to the crime. Despite that you have persistently claimed that you were not the assailant and you have put Susanna's friends and neighbours through the ordeal of giving evidence. Throughout a pre-trial voir dire and through the trial proper you have shown a total lack of remorse and a cynical cold-hearted disposition to the evidence.
   
7. I am required by law to pass a sentence of life imprisonment for such this offence and that I so do. I do nevertheless have the discretion to set a minimum term of imprisonment. I have heard your Counsel's submissions on that question and I take all he has said into consideration.
   
8. This was a violent and unnecessary attack on a defenceless woman who was in fear of you despite your earlier loving relationship. To reflect that horrific crime and to protect the community for some time in the future, I order that you serve a minimum term of eighteen years for this offence.
   
9. You have 30 days to appeal both your conviction and this sentence to the Fiji Court of Appeal.
   

   P.K. Madigan
   Judge

At Labasa
30 May 2012.