Police v Pula [2011] WSSC 124 (12 September 2011)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
HELD AT APIA

BETWEEN:

THE POLICE
Informant

AND:

FAAMOTU PULA aka ASUELU PULA male of Fagafau.
Defendant

Counsels: Ms FE Niumata for prosecution
Defendant unrepresented

Sentence: 12 September 2011

SENTENCE

This defendant appears for sentence having pleaded guilty to a charge of grievous bodily harm. The police summary of facts which the defendant has admitted states that he is a 40 year old male of Fagafau in Savaii, married with 5 children and is a planter supporting his family. The complainant is a 33 year old male of the same village but is a paraplegic and suffers from epilepsy and according to his father this morning has been like that since birth.

The summary states that on the day in question the complainant was at home when the defendants daughters children walked past his house and started making fun of him. The victim swore at the children and the children went home and told their father, the defendant about this. This angered the defendant who went to the house and assaulted the complainant. According to the police summary the people of the family intervened to protect the complainant from the defendants assault and they chased him away.

The defendant is no stranger to the complainant, he is the complainants uncle. However the summary goes on to say that the defendant was not content with his first assault and that he returned to the scene with a rock and tried to again assault the complainant. Again people intervened and took the rock away from the defendant but they were unable to stop the defendants further assault, kicking and punching the complainant in the face. Eventually they were able to restrain the defendant and chase him away. By this point the complainant was unconscious.

For some reason not explained in the material before me the complainant was not taken by his family to hospital until almost two weeks later. When the complainants father returned from a trip to American Samoa. He was examined by the authorities at Tuasivi Hospital and transferred to Motootua and the dental unit there noted the following injuries had been suffered by the complainant: he had swelling to his face, severe pain of his mouth and had sustained a fracture to the right side of his jaw. It also noted that one of his teeth was fractured. The dental unit had to wire his jaw under general anesthesia and he had to spend 13 days in hospital for treatment of his injuries.

The medical report from the hospital refers to an examination of the complainant of the 15th of June which is the day after the assault. So I doubt that what is stated in the police summary of facts about two weeks before medical treatment is correct. The Attorney should ensure that such errors are not repeated in future summaries. I am here referring to paragraph 11 of their summary of facts.

What is clear is that this assault by the defendant caused substantial injuries to the complainant who is a paraplegic and who was in a wheel chair. It is however fortunate for all parties that as confirmed by the complainants father to the court this morning that the complainant has undergone a full recovery from his injuries. That factor is in your favour Faamotu as well as your guilty plea to the charge and the fact that you are a first offender.

In Police v Leifi [2005] WSSC 25the court stated that the circumstances of grievous bodily harm are so varied and diverse that it is not possible to set a tariff for this kind of case. And that the sentence of the court must depend very much on the circumstances of each case. But one thing that can be said is that the punishment is invariably one of a sentence of imprisonment because of the seriousness of the charge and the seriousness of such assault.

The law says the maximum penalty for this Faamotu is 7 years in prison. Considering all the factors of your case a 5 year start point is appropriate. However, you are entitled to various deductions which I now will make. Firstly a deduction for your guilty plea because that shows you are truly remorseful for your actions. It also reflects how the valuable time and resources of the court has been saved and in particular you have spared the complainant having to travel in a wheel chair from Savaii to this court to give evidence. That would undoubtedly have caused him a lot of unnecessary stress and discomfort. Because of those factors I deduct the period of 2 years from the 5 year start point leaving a balance of 3 years. For the fact that you are a first offender Faamotu and the fact that there has been an apology done as confirmed by the complainants father to the court this morning I deduct a further 1 year from that sentence, leaving a balance of 2 years.

Two years will be an appropriate penalty for your offending in this case. But I have noted that there was extreme provocation present here. That provocation consisted of the swearing that was done by the complainant at your daughters and what he said to them which in Samoan is very offensive. These are all referred to in the probation report at page 2. For that I deduct a further 12 months from your sentence leaving a balance of 12 months. There are no other deductions Faamotu that I can give you.

In respect of this matter you will be convicted and sentenced to 12 months in prison.

JUSTICE NELSON