Police v Mahe [2015] WSSC 222 (22 December 2015)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
Police v Mahe [2015] WSSC 222

Case name:	Police v Mahe
Citation:	[2015] WSSC 222
Decision date:	22 December 2015
Parties:	POLICE (Prosecution) AUKILANI HUDSON MAHE also known as LANGIANA MAHE male of Malaemalu Falealili, Safaatoa Lefaga and Tonga. (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:	All these three matters Aukilani involving different complainants are different in nature and execution. By law that means the sentences for each of these matters must be cumulative, in order words “tuli eseese.” So your total sentence for these matters is the 15 months, the 18 months and the 12 months which adds up to 45 months. Considering what you did and the charges against you I find that period does not offend the totality of sentencing principle. So 45 months is your total term but the time that you have been in custody awaiting sentence is to be deducted from that 45 months.
Representation:	F Ioane for prosecution Defendant unrepresented
Catchwords:	-
Words and phrases:
Legislation cited:
Cases cited:
Summary of decision:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA

HELD AT MULINUU

BETWEEN:

POLICE
Prosecution

AND:

AUKILANI HUDSON MAHE also known as LANGIANA MAHE male of Malaemalu Falealili, Safaatoa Lefaga and Tonga.
Defendant

Counsel: F Ioane for prosecution
Defendant unrepresented

Sentence: 22 December 2015

SENTENCE

1. The defendant faces a number of charges. Firstly in relation to the first complainant thirteen (13) counts of forgery and twelve (12) of obtaining by deception. The complainant in that matter is a 31 year old female of Malaemalu Falealili the village where the defendant was residing at the time. She owns a small shop in Malaemalu and knows the defendant quite well as a regular customer. During the months of May to October 2014 the defendant committed the offences, resulting in his stealing from her bank account the sum of $5,040.00.
2. The second lot of charges concerns a 35 year old female of Lotopa. During the month of September 2015 the defendant swindled her out of $8,050.00 for an alleged purchase of land the defendant never owned.
3. The third matter against the defendant involves a 59 year old complainant of Falefa whose son was a prisoner at Tafaigata while the defendant was remanded there in custody. In that case the defendant obtained from her the sum of $1,200.00 ostensibly so that her son could be released from prison, portraying himself as the son of the mother of the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration.
4. There summaries were read to the defendant this morning and he accepted them as all correct. What the summary shows is there are many charges against the defendant. All of them serious charges. Forgery carries a 10 year maximum penalty by law and obtaining by deception 7 years.
5. The defendant has asked the court for a non-custodial penalty and another chance. The short answer to that Aukilani is that is impossible given the seriousness and scale of your criminal offending. Only one penalty is available for such behaviour and that is a term of imprisonment. You are however entitled to certain deductions for mitigation factors which I will make on your behalf.
6. I also acknowledge you will find it hard in prison because you are not a Samoan by birth. But you can speak the language obviously and you lived in Samoa with your Spiritual parents the Bishop of your Stake for a period of time. You will also receive some leniency for that.
7. What is important is the message that you must understand and that everyone else must understand. Namely, that if you carry out this sort of conning and swindling then you can expect a jail term. That punishment is necessary so that you will not do this sort of thing again Aukilani. And so that other people will not be tempted to follow your bad example. It must also hold you to account for your actions.
8. The fact of these matters as related to the court show the level of criminality in the offending to be high. It also shows calculated pre-planning. Significant sums are involved in these offences. This is not one off offending this is multiple offending against different victims using different methodologies against each of your victims. No doubt that was tailored to their weaknesses and your con succeeded to a large extent, which speaks to the sophistication of your technique. You are a talented young man Mr Aukilani but you are using your God given talents very poorly. If you had used it constructively you would probably end up a successful business man.
9. I will deal with each complainant separately because your sentences should be different and in accordance with your actions in respect of each complainant. I start with the first complainant the shopkeeper in Malaemalu and the charges of forgery and obtaining by deception which is another word for theft. As stated forgery carries a 10 maximum penalty. But for this particular matter I accept the prosecution submission and will start sentencing at 3 years in prison.
10. The first deduction you are eligible for is for your guilty plea because you saved the time of the court and also it acknowledges your remorse to some extent. That is a deduction of 9 months, leaves a balance of 27 months.
11. You have a good pre-sentence report and a clean background, you have a reference from your Bishop and you have a clean criminal record. I will deduct 6 months for all that, leaves 21 months.
12. As I have said I acknowledge you will find prison a little tougher than a normal person. So I will deduct a further 6 months to make allowance for that, leaves 15 months.
13. You have talked about apologies you have made to all these people. Unfortunately, none of these are confirmed by the probation office. I therefore cannot use that to make any further deduction.
14. There are no other deductions for this sentence, on the charges of forgery convicted and sentenced to 15 months in prison.
15. In respect of the 12 charges of obtaining by deception, following the same process convicted and sentenced to 12 months in prison to be served concurrently with the 15 months.
16. Coming to the second complainant now. I note this occurred while the first matter against you involving the shop owner in Malaemalu was still pending. I am going to use the same start point for the forgery in that case but uplifted by 4 months to reflect the fact that another criminal matter was pending yet you still went and carried out this offending. That means a start point of 40 months in prison.
17. Again for your guilty plea I make a one-quarter of sentence deduction of 10 months, leaves 30 months. 6 months for your pre-sentence report and background etc. and 6 months for the fact you will find this sentence also hard. Deduct that 12 months from 30 months, leaves a balance of 18 months.
18. Your sentence for this matter is 18 months for each charge, for the forgery and for the theft, obtaining by deception of the $8000 odd tala from this complainant.
19. The final complainant is the one that happened while you were in custody in Tafaigata. That did not stop you from perpetrating this con which deprived the complainant of some $1,200.00. Following a similar process as the previous charges you are convicted and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for this particular charge.
20. All these three matters Aukilani involving different complainants are different in nature and execution. By law that means the sentences for each of these matters must be cumulative, in order words “tuli eseese.” So your total sentence for these matters is the 15 months, the 18 months and the 12 months which adds up to 45 months. Considering what you did and the charges against you I find that period does not offend the totality of sentencing principle. So 45 months is your total term but the time that you have been in custody awaiting sentence is to be deducted from that 45 months.
    

JUSTICE NELSON