Republic v Tevave [2001] KIHC 5; Criminal Case 28 of 2000 (12 January 2001)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KIRIBATI
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
HELD AT BETIO
REPUBLIC OF KIRIBATI

Criminal Case No. 28 of 2000

THE REPUBLIC\

v.

SAMUELU TEVAVE

FOR THE REPUBLIC: Mr Tion Nabau
FOR THE ACCUSED: Ms Emma Hibling

Date of Hearing: 12 January 2001

JUDGMENT

Samuelu Tevave, you have pleaded guilty to the offence of causing death by reckless driving.

On the afternoon of 4 July, in Nawerewere, you were driving a motor vehicle belonging to your brother-in-law. I am told by your counsel that you pulled out to overtake a cyclist who was on the road ahead of you and when you saw a vehicle coming towards you, you pulled back in. In the process of doing so you hit the bicycle being ridden by the deceased. She fell in front of the car and was dragged along the road some metres. She died soon after.

The maximum penalty prescribed by law for this offence is imprisonment for five years. Sixteen days after this incident Parliament increased the maximum penalty for this offence to life imprisonment. Perhaps fortunately for you, I am obliged to deal with you under the law as it was at the time the offence was committed.

There are several aggravating features to this crime. You were not the holder of the driver’s licence and I am informed you did not know how to drive. In addition you had consumed several cups of kaokioki in the hours leading up to the incident in question. I am informed by counsel for the prosecution that you admitted to the police you had consumed four cups of kaokioki and that would appear to be borne out by the assessment of Corporal Baraeta who, when he observed you soon after the accident, found you to be moderately drunk.

On the plus side for you, you are a young man of about 29 or 30 years, married with a young child. You lead a subsistence lifestyle and you support not only your wife and child but your grandparents and extended family. You cooperated with the police and you have entered a plea of guilty. I am told that you are very remorseful, although that must be tempered somewhat by the fact that when this matter was first called on you entered a plea of not guilty to the crime. It is only now, some weeks before your trial was due to commence, that you have entered a plea of guilty. In any event you are entitled to the benefit of your plea of guilty.

An apology has been offered to the family of the victim and that apology had been accepted. You have offered to the family of the victim, by way of some compensation, two pigs. It must be remembered however that no amount of compensation can make up for what the family of this woman has lost as a result of your stupidity. You had no business being behind the wheel of that car on that day. Far too many people in Kiribati lose their lives each year because of people who do not take care on the roads. People like you. Imagine if the woman that you hit on that day had been your wife. Imagine how you would feel.

As I said, Parliament have taken steps to register their concern for the present situation on our roads by substantially increasing the penalty for this and other related offences. Had this incident occurred after the change in the law you would be looking at a sentence of several years’ imprisonment.

Your counsel has submitted that while a sentence of imprisonment is appropriate I should suspend that sentence of imprisonment. I do not share that view. You must go to prison.

It has been said that the main function of the sentence in a case such as this is the deterrence of others who might think to act in the way you did. It is my duty to send the message loud and clear to all road users that if they behave in the way in which you behaved on 4 July last year they will go to prison.

As I said to you at the outset, in your case the maximum penalty that I can impose is one of five years’ imprisonment. In all the circumstances I am of the view that a period of imprisonment of 12 months is appropriate. As I have said, anybody else coming before this court charged with the commission of such an offence after the change in the law can expect to be imprisoned for substantially longer.

You have pleaded guilty to the offence of causing death by reckless driving. You are convicted of that offence and sentenced to imprisonment for 12 months. You are also disqualified from holding a driving licence. Under the law you cannot obtain a driving licence without first asking this Court to lift the disqualification.

DAVID LAMBOURNE
COMMISSIONER