Police v Paulo [2015] WSSC 123 (20 April 2015)

THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
Police v Paulo [2015] WSSC 123

Case name:	Police v Paulo
Citation:	[2015] WSSC 123
Decision date:	20 April 2015
Parties:	Police (prosecution) and Ichikawa Luka Paulo a.k.a Iki Paulo, male of Vaitele-fou (defendant)
Hearing date(s):
File number(s):
Jurisdiction:	CRIMINAL
Place of delivery:	Supreme Court, Mulinuu
Judge(s):	Justice Aitken
On appeal from:
Order:	I now impose is one of 11 months’ imprisonment. You will be released on 6 months of supervision, on the conditions that (1) you undertake counseling for alcohol and drug abuse; and (2) you comply with the directions of your Probation Officer.
Representation:	P Chang and F Lagaaia for the Prosecution Defendant appears in Person
Catchwords:	Burglary – theft –
Words and phrases:
Legislation cited:
Cases cited:
Summary of decision:

THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA

HELD AT MULINUU

BETWEEN:

P O L I C E
Prosecution

AND:

ICHIKAWA LUKA PAULO AKA IKI PAULO
male of Vaitele-fou
Defendant

Counsel:
P Chang and F Lagaaia for the Prosecution
Defendant appears in Person

Sentence: 20 April 2015

ORAL SENTENCE OF JUSTICE E M AITKEN

1. Mr Paulo, you appear before the Court, having pleaded guilty to two charges of burglary and two charges of theft.
2. On 4 February this year, you were living in the home of the victim of some of your offending but had left the house and the house had been locked. You went back to the house; you removed 3 louvers; you went into the house; and you took the skill saw belonging to the family. The next day, you were in the house with the family; you said nothing about the skill saw; and to make matters worse, on that occasion, you took a Samsung touch-screen mobile phone, belonging to someone in the house. On that occasion, you did not commit the offence of burglary but you certainly committed the offence of theft. A few days later, on 10 February, you approached another house; you broke in through the back door; and on that occasion, you took a bag out of the house with a few items in it.
3. Now what makes this offending quite serious is that firstly, there were two burglaries – but particularly, in respect of the first burglary, you really breached the trust of the family that had offered you a home for the past several years, and that family talks about being very disappointed in how you behaved towards them given that they had really taken you into their home.
4. If I just look at the burglary on the first day, where you removed the louvers, and the theft of the skill saw, the starting point for that sort of criminal behaviour would be a sentence of 10 months’ imprisonment. But it gets worse because there is a second theft, again by someone in a position of trust, and also a second burglary – and that would take the starting point sentence up to 18 months’ imprisonment. It gets worse because you have a previous conviction for burglary and for theft, and, in my view, that is an indication that you are someone who is inclined to commit burglaries and other dishonest offences, and I add 3 months imprisonment to the sentence. That takes it up to 21 months’ imprisonment but there are some matters that permit me to reduce the sentence.
5. You are 22 years old; you are a single man. You were employed at the time of this offending, which troubles me because you clearly you are one of the lucky people who had work, and you told the Probation Officer that you sold the skill saw to get some money, which you spent on alcohol. You are fortunate that Mr Lilomaiava still supports you; that he visited you in prison; and that he accepted your apology. The fact that you have apologised to him and appear to accept your wrongdoing is a factor that I can take into account, as is the fact that you are still reasonably young and that means rehabilitation is a primary purpose of sentencing – in other words, the Court needs to keep terms of imprisonment to the shortest appropriate terms in light of your age.
6. In the circumstances, having regard to your apology, to your youth, I will reduce the sentence down from 21 months down to 16 months before I have regard to your plea of guilty – and because of your plea of guilty at the earliest possible opportunity, you are entitled to maximum credit for that and that reduces the sentence, and the sentence I now impose is one of 11 months’ imprisonment. Time in custody is to be deducted from that sentence. Convictions are entered in respect of all four charges – and following imprisonment, you will be released on 6 months of supervision, on the conditions that (1) you undertake counseling for alcohol and drug abuse; and (2) you comply with the directions of your Probation Officer.
7. Do you understand the sentence? Do you understand that you now have three convictions for burglary and three for theft? – so you understand that if you were to commit another burglary or theft, you will go to prison, probably for a longer time that you are now going to serve. You need to change your behaviours or you are going to throw away this precious part of your young life in prison.

Alright, you may stand down.

_____________________
JUSTICE E M AITKEN