Police v Silipa [2011] WSSC 35 (7 March 2011)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
HELD AT APIA

BETWEEN:

THE POLICE
Informant

AND:

KONELIO SILIPA
male of Faleula-tai and Vaitele-uta.
Defendant

Counsels: Ms T Toailoa and F E Niumata for prosecution
Defendant unrepresented.

Sentence: 07 March 2011

SENTENCE

This is again is another case involving possession of marijuana. The summary of facts which the defendant has accepted states that he is 26 years of age from Faleula-tai and Vaitele-uta, single and was employed at MASSAS Company Ltd at Vaitele-tai at the time of the offence. On the evening of Monday 01 February this year police were informed that the defendant was selling narcotics at his place of work at Vaitele-tai.

The next morning at around 5:00 am the police entered the premises of the defendants work place and approached the defendant and asked whether the black back-pack bag he had belonged to him to which the defendant replied that it did. The officers then searched the bag in the presence of the defendant. Inside they found 6 marijuana branches wrapped in a plastic bag weighing 24 grams together with 13 small packets of marijuana leaves weighing 37 grams. And the summary of facts relates that when the defendant was questioned in relation to the marijuana he replied "o loo tau su'esu'e ai sa'u seleni".

The defendant was accordingly apprehended by the police charged and has pleaded guilty to possession of the aforesaid marijuana. I am sure the defendant has heard the courts comments in relation to the previous sentencings regarding people who engage in the business of selling marijuana. Those comments apply also to your case Konelio and it is now a question of assessing what is an appropriate penalty.

Similar to the previous case a start point for your sentence will be 4 years in prison. You get a discount of one-third or 16 months for your guilty plea leaving a balance of 32 months. You have previous convictions according to your previous conviction card before the court but I will ignore those because they relate to different kinds of offences. You will be treated Konelio as a first offender and the discount for your first offender status is 12 months, that leaves a balance of 20 months in prison. You have been on bail therefore no deduction required for your remand in custody time. You are convicted and sentenced to 20 months in prison for this offence.

............................
JUSTICE NELSON