Police v Matauaina [2015] WSSC 247 (27 April 2015)

SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
Police v Matauaina [2015] WSSC 247

Case name:	Police v Matauaina
Citation:	[2015] WSSC 247
Decision date:	27 April 2015
Parties:	Police (prosecution) and Paulo Tagi Matauaina, male of Nofoalii and Luua Faga (defendant)
Hearing date(s):
File number(s):	S976/15 and S990/15
Jurisdiction:	Criminal
Place of delivery:	Supreme Court of Samoa, Mulinuu
Judge(s):	Justice E M Aitken
On appeal from:
Order:	I sentence you now on these two charges to a sentence of 10 months imprisonment; that sentence will be followed by one of 6 months supervision, on the single condition that you comply with the requirements of your Probation Officer. Any time served is to be deducted from the 10 months sentence.
Representation:	Fetu Lagaaia and Ofisa Tagaloa (prosecution), Defendant appear 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:

Paulo Tagi Matauaina, male of Nofoalii and Luua Faga
Defendant

Counsel: F Lagaaia and O Tagaloa for prosecution
Defendant in person

Sentence: 27 April 2015

Oral Sentence of Justice E M Aitken

1. Mr Matauaina, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of burglary and one charge of theft, and you appear now for sentence.
2. The facts are that you took food and a handset, to the total value of $1,483.00 from the house that you burgled on 8 January. Now not only is that a lot of property to have been stolen (it was mostly food) but the house that you stole the property from was the home in which you had been living for the previous 14 months. You were living in this property having been convicted and sentenced for similar offending: three burglaries and three thefts; you were on a term of 15 months probation and just before that term expired you committed this further offending. You were staying with the Village Mayor but the victim had asked you to go around to the house, where you were living with him, to feed the pigs; you did that but you also made the decision to break into his house, intending to commit an offence of theft.
3. You tell me today that you took these items, hoping to sell them on and make some money and that none of the property has subsequently been returned, either to the Police or the victim.
4. There is no statement from the victim but I am sure that, having had you in his home for nearly 15 months, he feels very disappointed and let down by your behaviour; and he has also lost a lot of property (food and the handset), to a total value of an excessive $1,400.
5. Now the Prosecution ask the Court to sentence you to a term of imprisonment and they seek a starting point of 2 years. I have had regard to the facts of your case and the facts of other similar cases. This is a domestic burglary during the daytime where nobody was present but with the aggravated factor of the breach of trust.
6. In my view, a starting point of one year’s imprisonment appropriately reflects the defendant’s culpability. However, what makes the situation worse is that you have previous convictions for theft and burglary and, as I have said, you were still serving the sentence for that offending and that causes me to increase the sentence to one of 15 months imprisonment.
7. In terms of your personal circumstances, you are now 25 years old; you completed schooling up to Year 11; your father was then unwell and you left school to care for him. Since he passed away about 6 years ago you have been able to find work but you also acknowledge being a heavy user of alcohol and, I am assuming, smoking cigarettes and not cannabis – but alcohol and cigarettes. You have been in custody now for 3 months; you have had no contact from your family and you apologised to the Court for this offending. But none of those factors permit me to reduce the sentence.
8. The only matter that I can give you credit for is your plea of guilty and that was entered at a very early opportunity. By pleading guilty you are owning up to your offending and taking responsibility for it and the maximum credit you can get for that is a third off your sentence – in this case that would be 5 months and that means I sentence you now on these two charges to a sentence of 10 months imprisonment; that sentence will be followed by one of 6 months supervision, on the single condition that you comply with the requirements of your Probation Officer. Any time served is to be deducted from the 10 months sentence.
9. Mr Matauaina, you now have 4 convictions for burglary and you are now serving your first prison term for burglary. If you commit a further offence of burglary, you can expect to go back to prison for longer than 10 months and each time you commit an offence of burglary the sentence will get longer, so I would just encourage you to think about your behaviours while you spend your time in prison and come out of prison determined not to re-offend.

___________________________

JUSTICE E M AITKEN