Police v Motuga [2014] WSSC 89 (13 January 2014)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
Police v Motuga [2014] WSSC 89

Case name:	Police v Motuga
Citation:	[2014] WSSC 89
Decision date:	13 January 2014
Parties:	The Police (Prosecution) Rita Motuga, female of Fagalii and Lalomalava, Savaii (Defendant)
Hearing date(s):	-
File number(s):
Jurisdiction:	Criminal
Place of delivery:	Courthouse, Mulinuu
Judge(s):	Justice Nelson
On appeal from:
Order:	Convicted and sentenced to prison for 30 months or a period of 2½ years for each charge against you. But the court will order that all these terms are to be served concurrently so that you will serve a total term of 2½ years.
Representation:	F Lagaaia and G Nelson for prosecution S Leung Wai for defendant
Catchwords:	Theft as a Servant – exceptional circumstances – pre-sentence report – character reference – convicted – imprisonment term.
Words and phrases:
Legislation cited:
Cases cited:
Summary of decision:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA

HELD AT MULINUU

BETWEEN:

THE POLICE
Prosecution

AND:

RITA MOTUGA, female of Fagalii and Lalomalava Savaii.
Defendant

Counsel: F Lagaaia and G Nelson for prosecution
S Leung Wai for defendant

Sentence: 13 January 2014

SENTENCE

1. The defendant appears for sentence on charges of theft as a servant. Police summary of facts which the defendant through her counsel accepts reads as follows: she is 29 years of age from Fagalii and Lalomalava in Savaii married and was at the time employed by the complainant company. The complainant is a money transfer business which provides money transfer services between Samoa and American Samoa. The defendant was employed as an accounts Manager responsible for processing money transfers.
2. On three separate occasions she received cheques from the General Manager of the complainant company. Instead of disbursing these cheques to the people who should have received them she cashed them and kept the money. The customers of the company eventually found out and complained that they had not received their remittances. An investigation was launched and this led back to the defendant. The matter was reported to the police who investigated leading to the charges against the defendant. Total sum of money involved in these thefts is $20,000.00.
   
3. The sentencing policy of the Samoan courts are well publicised for the offence of theft as a servant. Because of the seriousness of the offending and because of its prevalence especially among young adult women imprisonment penalty is the norm. Unless there are exceptional circumstances requiring a different penalty. The Parliament of Samoa has recognised the prevalence of this sort of offending by increasing its maximum to 10 years in prison.
4. The defendant held a trusted position. She was responsible for preparing payment vouchers for money transferred from American Samoa. And after preparation of the vouchers also for preparing cheques to recipients. After doing that she was required to pass the cheques to the General Manager for signature. After signed the cheques would be returned to her for disbursement to customers. Instead of doing that she kept the money from the three cheques.
5. The three cheques involved in the three charges against her are cheque number 38043 on 28 June 2012 in the amount of $5000, cheque number 380379 on 20 July 2012 in the amount of $5000 and cheque number 380439 on 16 August 2012 in the sum of $10,000. The defendant cashed these cheques and according to her counsel used the money for the family faalavelaves and her own other personal purposes. She was treating the money of the company she worked for as her own private finance source. In this way she stole $20,000 belonging to her employer. Of the $20,000 I am satisfied only $6,000 has been repaid from the sale of a family vehicle. The balance would represent the net loss to the complainant company.
6. .As I have said the maximum penalty for these offences is 10 years in prison. However considering all the circumstances of your offending a 5 year start point is the appropriate place to start sentence. As your counsel has pointed out you are entitled to deductions from that start point for various things. Firstly to reflect your guilty plea entered at the first reasonable opportunity. A plea that has saved the courts time and also shows some remorse for your offending. For that I will deduct 25 percent from the start point for sentence namely a term of 15 months leaving a balance of 45 months. You have a good background as outlined in the probation office pre-sentence report. A background of service looking after your family and your children and your other responsibilities. The court also has regard to the character references that have been submitted by your pulenuu as well as your current employer and your faifeau on your behalf. You have a clean police record. For those matters I will deduct 12 months from the balance of your sentence leaving 33 months. In respect of the partial restitution that was made and the apology offered to your employer some deduction also has to be made. For those matters I will deduct 3 months from the balance of your sentence leaving 30 months. No other adjustments need to be made Rita or can be made to your sentence.
7. In respect of this matter you will be convicted and sentenced to prison for 30 months or a period of 2½ years for each charge against you. But the court will order that all these terms are to be served concurrently so that you will serve a total term of 2½ years.

JUSTICE NELSON