Police v Iti [2014] WSSC 184 (22 October 2014)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
Police v Iti [2014] WSSC 184

Case name:	Police v Iti
Citation:	[2014] WSSC 184
Decision date:	22 October 2014
Parties:	POLICE (Prosecution) v FILIKI ITI male of Matautu Falealili and Siusega.. (Defendant)
Hearing date(s):	-
File number(s):
Jurisdiction:	Criminal
Place of delivery:	Supreme Court of Samoa, Mulinuu
Judge(s):	Justice Nelson
On appeal from:
Order:	For this burglary and theft on the 6th of March this year Filiki you are convicted and sentenced to 4 years in prison but remand in custody time awaiting sentence to be deducted. In respect of the first burglary on the 5th of March 2014 and the theft of coolers and the knife. The evidence showed that these coolers and bush knife were not recovered as confirmed by the victim impact report filed. On that matter convicted and sentenced to 2 years in prison concurrent term.
Representation:	O Tagaloa and Ms Tavita for prosecution T Leavai for defendant
Catchwords:	Burglary and theft - professional burglar - home invasion - previous convictions - concurrent term
Words and phrases:
Legislation cited:
Cases cited:
Summary of decision:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA

HELD AT MULINUU

BETWEEN:

POLICE
Prosecution

AND:

FILIKI ITI male of Matautu Falealili and Siusega..
Defendant

Counsel: O Tagaloa and Ms Tavita for prosecution
T Leavai for defendant

Sentence: 22 October 2014

SENTENCE

1. The defendant has pleaded guilty to breaking into and stealing properties from the house of the complainant who is a businessman living at Siusega. He did this on two different occasions.
2. The first was on the 05^th of March this year at about 4:00 am in the morning. On that occasion he climbed over the fence of the complainants property, went to the veranda of the house and stole three (3) coolers and a bush knife. Total value of these properties $621.00. He then took the properties to the Savalalo Fish Market and sold the coolers to random customers according to the police summary of facts which the defendant through his counsel has accepted.
3. The second burglary and theft occurred the following night the 6^th of March 2014 at around 3:00am in the morning. At that time the complainant and his family were all asleep in the house. The defendant broke in by climbing up to the roof top of the house opening a light cover and lowering himself down into the house using an ie lavalava hanging on the familys laundry line outside. On this occasion he took a number of fine mats, a 46” flat screen TV and a number of caps, total value of the properties stolen $8,828.00.
4. When the family awoke they discovered the burglary and referred it to the police. A search of the area recovered the caps and led the police to the defendant who showed them where he hid the items in a nearby bush. As a result of these burglaries and thefts the defendant stands charged with two counts of burglary and two counts of theft.
5. As his counsel rightly conceded this was a home invasion offence by a defendant whose record shows him to be a professional burglar. The defendant has been in and out of prison since 2003 and has previous convictions for burglary and theft. But as his counsel pointed out he has stayed out of trouble for the last two years. Given however this kind of record the defendant should be well aware that every time he breaks into peoples houses and steals their property there is no other penalty that can be applied except to return him to prison. That is necessary in order to protect the public even temporarily from the defendant. And in the hope that somehow it will act as a deterrent to him to stop this sort of offending.
6. I deal firstly with the larger of the two burglaries the one on the 6^th of March, S1061/14 and S1059/14. The maximum penalty for burglary Filiki is 10 years in prison. But considering all the circumstances of your matter I agree with the prosecution a 4 year start point is appropriate. I upgrade that to 5 years because of your bad record. You are entitled to a deduction for your guilty plea but because that was only entered on trial date it is a late guilty plea and you cannot get full credit. But I give you a 15 percent deduction from sentence, that is a period of 9 months. To reflect your co-operation in recovering the goods that you stole and your admissions to the police that you were involved in this matter, and to reflect the recovery of the goods that were burgled on this occasion by the complainant I will make a further deduction of 3 months from your sentence. Those two deductions add up to 12 months, deducting that from your 5 years start point leaves a sentence on 4 years in prison.
7. For this burglary and theft on the 6^th of March this year Filiki you are convicted and sentenced to 4 years in prison but remand in custody time awaiting sentence to be deducted.
8. In respect of the first burglary on the 5^th of March 2014 and the theft of coolers and the knife. The evidence showed that these coolers and bush knife were not recovered as confirmed by the victim impact report filed. On that matter convicted and sentenced to 2 years in prison concurrent term. Faafetai Filiki ua maea lau mataupu.
   

JUSTICE NELSON