Police v Lafi [2013] WSSC 48 (24 June 2013)

SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA

Police v Lafi [2013] WSSC 48

Case name: Police v Lafi

Citation: [2013] WSSC 48

Decision date: 24 June 2013

Parties:

POLICE v PITO ISAIA LAFI, male of Siumu and IEFATA ATUAIA KITIONA male of Siumu and ALENI TOFAEONO male of Siumu.

Hearing date(s):

File number(s):

Jurisdiction: Criminal

Place of delivery: Mulinuu

Judge(s): Justice Nelson

On appeal from:

Order:
Representation:
O Tagaloa for prosecution

Catchwords:

Words and phrases:

Legislation cited:

Cases cited:

Summary of decision:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA

HELD AT MULINUU

BETWEEN

THE POLICE

Prosecution

AND

PITO ISAIA LAFI, male of Siumu.

First Defendant

AND

IEFATA ATUAIA KITIONA male of Siumu.

Second Defendant

AND

ALENI TOFAEONO male of Siumu.

Third Defendant

Counsel: O Tagaloa for prosecution

Defendant unrepresented

Sentence: 24 June 2013

SENTENCE

These three young men are jointly charged with intentionally causing actual bodily harm to the complainant. A charge to which they pleaded guilty. It is said to have arisen out of an incident that occurred on the 25th of May 2013 at Siumu.

The defendants are all from the village of Siumu. The first named defendant Pito Isaia is 26 years old married with one child and currently employed. He has normal responsibilities of looking after his family and dependents. Second defendant is Iefata Atuaia 21 years old single but is also working to support his family. The third defendant is Aleni Tofaeono 22 years old single and is also employed again also looking after his family. The complainant is a 23 year old male of Siumu also single and also working supporting his family.

The police summary of facts which has been accepted by all defendants says that on the 24th of May this year at about 8:00 pm the complainant was at home drinking a bottle of vodka. Later that evening he attended a church fundraising social. When that was over he returned home and continued to consume his bottle with a friend. While they were there the first defendant arrived and joined them. The three of them then left the complainants house and proceeded to the road in front of the complainants house. At about 11:30 pm the second defendant was walking home from work and came across the men. He joined the vodka drinking party. While they were doing this the third defendant appeared and also joined the group. This did not sit well with the complainant who questioned Tofaeono why he was there? Aleni told him that he was there to see the other two defendants Pito and Iefata. Further questions were directed by the complainant to Aleni but Aleni ignored them and continued to remain with the group.

Drinking session continued into the early hours of 25 May. Finally the bottle was finished and the men began to disperse. The defendants Pito and Iefata left the group to go to their homes leaving behind Aleni and the complainant. It seems that the dispute between the two men escalated resulting in the complainant punching Aleni causing him to fall to the ground.

The complainant left Aleni there and returned to his house. The other two defendants heard the commotion and returned to where the party had been and found the defendant Aleni lying on the ground with a bloody mouth. They helped him up and then called out to the complainant to come out of the house. The complainant unwisely did so whereupon the three men then set upon him and beat him. There is no evidence any weapons were used except for punches and kicks. The police summary of facts says that assault caused the complainant to lose consciousness. Assault was stopped when the complainants younger brother intervened.

The complainant was taken to Poutasi District Hospital and ultimately to the main hospital at Motootua. There it was found that he had sustained head and eye injuries and in particular was required to undergo surgery to repair his injured eye. The surgery could only go so far and the result of this beating is that the complainant has lost partial vision in his right eye. The documents before the court indicate that injury is probably permanent. The victim impact report before the court also refers to disfigurement of the complainants features because of his injury. And talks of the economic loss the complainant has suffered because the injury has affected his ability to work.

This is therefore a case of senseless behaviour under the influence of alcohol on the part of three intoxicated defendants. As a result of their attack the complainant has suffered permanent injuries. This illustrates the severity of the assault.

There is no question that your offending requires an imprisonment penalty. That is the sort of penalty imposed for this kind of behaviour by the courts in the past and will continue to be imposed to reflect the seriousness of the offending and to send a message to you young gentlemen and other young men that this sort of behaviour is not going to be tolerated.

The maximum penalty for the charge you defendants face is 7 years in prison. Considering all the relevant circumstances especially the fact that this was a group assault by the three of you on one person a 5 year penalty is an appropriate start point. For your guilty plea which has saved the courts time and resources I deduct one-third of sentence. That leaves a balance of 40 months in prison. For the fact gentlemen that you are first offenders I will deduct 12 months leaving a balance of 28 months in prison. For the fact that there was provocation in that it was the complainant who delivered the first blow to you Aleni I will make a further deduction for you all. For that I deduct 3 months leaving a balance of 25 months in prison. For the fact that you have already been punished by your Alii and Faipule your village council I will deduct a further 3 months leaving a balance of 22 months in prison. You are also entitled to a further deduction in respect of the apologies that you have rendered to the complainant. However according to the probation office pre-sentence report you have all done different kinds of apologies. So you must receive different deductions.

I will deal firstly with you Iefata Atuaia. It is clear from the probation report that according to the victims mother you and your parents visited her son while he was in hospital. And that you had an ‘asiga’ of food and money for his medical bills was given to the complainant. You and your parents also apologized to him for what had happened. The report records Ieafata that the apology was accepted. For that reconciliation and apology I will therefore deduct from your remaining term Iefata a period of 12 months leaving a balance of 10 months in prison. So for you Iefata you will be convicted and sentenced to 10 months in prison.

For you Pito Isaia your probation pre-sentence report says that according to the complainants mother your father went to see the complainant in hospital with a asiga and some money also to help with medical expenses. It says your father apologized to the complainant and the complainant accepted it. But you yourself have not apologized for what you did. So you will only receive limited deduction for the apology and reconciliation. I give you 6 months credit for that reducing your penalty Pito to 16 months in prison.

Lastly you Aleni Tofaeono. You are probably the one who originated this incident because it was your dispute with the complainant that started this melee. But sadly you made no effort to apologise to the complainant according to the probation office pre-sentence report. Neither you or any member of your family visited the complainant while he was in hospital or gave him any money for medical costs. The probation report only refers to some kind of general apology that you made together with the others. You will therefore receive the smallest deduction, a period of 2 months from your 22 months leaving a balance of 20 months in prison. For this offence you Aleni will be convicted and sentenced to 20 months in prison.

.........................

JUSTICE NELSON