Public Prosecutor v Jonathan [2008] VUSC 71; Criminal Case 66 of 2008 (3 June 2008)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF
THE REPUBLIC OF VANUATU
(Criminal Jurisdiction)

Criminal Case No. 66 of 2008

PUBLIC PROSECUTOR

v

PIERRE JONATHAN
PAUL SOWANA

Coram: Justice C. N TUOHY

Date of Hearing: 3 June 2008

Date of Sentence: 3 June 2008

Counsels: Mr. Molbaleh for Applicant
Mr. Kausiama for Defendants

SENTENCE

1. You are both charged with cultivating cannabis. Both of you were caught growing some 11 plants of cannabis in your garden near your village of Pangpang in North Efate. Both of you said you were doing this because you had heard that you could get money from this crop. But at the time that you were caught you had not harvested or sold any.

2. Cannabis can cause bad physical and social effects on people who smoke it and dealing in it causes crime in society. It is not like growing kava or growing bananas or growing taro, it is growing a dangerous drug.

3. I hope you were here through the day and you saw those four young men who spent three months in Stade prison because they were rolling up cannabis leaves grown by someone like you, to sell them in town. Prison is what will happen to you if you get involved with cannabis again.

4. However, I do not think that it is necessary to send you to prison now. You are first offenders, you did not get very far and you pleaded guilty now. The pre-sentence report says that you both want to do a custom ceremony to your whole village to say that you were sorry for this. That must be taken into account in your sentence.

5. In this case I am going to follow the recommendation of the Probation Officer which I think is sensible. You are each sentenced to 300 hrs community work to be carried out in your village. So you will work for your village for nothing. You will also be placed on supervision for one year with a special condition that you are to perform a custom ceremony to your community.

Dated at Port Vila, this 3^rd day of June, 2008

BY THE COURT

C. N. TUOHY
Judge