Police v Tuimaunei [2015] WSSC 256 (25 May 2015)

SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
Police v Tuimaunei [2015] WSSC 256

Case name:	Police v Tuimaunei
Citation:	[2015] WSSC 256
Decision date:	25 May 2015
Parties:	Police (prosecution) v Faifua Teofilo Tuimaunei, male of Leulumoega tuai
Hearing date(s):
File number(s):	S1161/15
Jurisdiction:	Criminal
Place of delivery:	Supreme Court of Samoa, Mulinuu
Judge(s):	Justice Ema Aitken
On appeal from:
Order:	On that charge, you are convicted now and sentenced to serve 1 year and 2 months imprisonment. Time served, if there has been any, is to be deducted from that sentence.
Representation:	L Suá Mailo for prosecution Defendant in person
Catchwords:	Causing grevious bodily harm – serious assault in the criminal law
Words and phrases:	Intent to cause grevious bodily harm – prolonged attack
Legislation cited:
Cases cited:
Summary of decision:

THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA

HELD AT MULINUU

BETWEEN:

P O L I C E

Prosecution

AND:

Faifua Teofilo Tuimaunei, male of Leulumoega-tuai

Defendant

Counsel: L Su’a-Mailo for prosecution

Defendant in person

Sentence: 25 May 2015

Oral Sentence of Justice E M aitken

1. Mr Tuimaunei, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of causing grievous bodily harm to Aaron Magele, with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. This is the most serious assault in the criminal law apart from manslaughter and murder – in other words, it is the most serious of the assault crimes; it carries a maximum penalty of 10 years.
2. In terms of the facts, it would seem you and the victim, who I think is related to you, were drinking alcohol that night together. You became intoxicated and tore down, from the ceiling, an extension wire. The victim, who admits himself to being intoxicated, told you to calm down and went off to make himself some food. You came up behind him and, as he turned around, you punched him in the mouth. He fell down and that either caused him to become unconscious or he soon became unconscious but in any event you continued to punch him in the face. He was bleeding from his mouth; his face was badly injured; and you seemed to understand, despite being heavily intoxicated, that he was in fact unconscious.
3. You left him there and went to seek some help from your father for your sore hand. Fortunately, you told your father what had happened and he was able to alert his brother, the victim’s father, to go and attend the victim.
4. The victim was reasonably seriously injured – I am referring to the medical report which describes his whole face as swollen and bruised. He had a fractured mandible, a fractured jaw on his left side; and was admitted to the hospital.
5. The victim appeared today to address the Court and also provided a victim impact statement. He says in that statement that as well as receiving a fractured jaw, his nose was broken and his ear was bleeding. He says he has been avoiding you, not because he fears you but because he is in the process of wanting to travel to New Zealand. He appeared in person and asked to address the Court and told me that he has forgiven you and that the two of you have reconciled and he asks me to be lenient with you today.
6. In terms of assessing the seriousness of this crime I record as follows. Firstly, that actual violence was used and it was applied to the head of the victim. The attack was unprovoked – in other words, the victim did nothing to provoke you into hitting him. It was a prolonged attack – in other words, you kept on hitting him even after he fell to the ground; and you clearly left the victim unconscious on the ground, bleeding, which is an aggravating factor because it is often in that situation that things for the victim can get considerably worse.
7. Given the maximum penalty is 10 years, having regard to other offences that have been dealt with in this Court, I fix the starting point at 3 years imprisonment. That reflects the seriousness of your behaviour. However, I turn then to look at your personal circumstances and they do permit me to significantly reduce the penalty.
8. You are 37 years old. You have separated from the mother of your children but you are responsible for 4 of your 6 children. You are working on the family plantation; that is your main source of income at present or has been but prior to that you held significant employment as a carpenter.
9. You express your remorse for your offending in the probation report and to this Court. Relevantly, the victim has forgiven you and he asks me to take that into account.
10. You have no prior convictions and from everything that I have read on the file, I would describe you as an otherwise good and hardworking man until you drink too much alcohol. Like so many offenders before this Court, Mr Tuimaunei, you will need to address your use of alcohol if you wish to avoid further criminal offending.
11. But because of your genuine remorse, because of your otherwise good character I am prepared to reduce your sentence from 3 years down to one of 2 years imprisonment. There are two other matters that permit me to reduce it still further and the first is the impact a term of imprisonment will have on your children who are also the victims, of course, of your behaviour and I will be lenient and merciful to you and reduce the sentence by a further 3 month period to reflect the fact that your children will suffer or pay a price for your term of imprisonment. Finally, because you have entered a plea of guilty to this offending at a very early opportunity, you are entitled to the maximum credit which, in your case, would a period of 7 months and that reduces the sentence down to one of 1 year and 2 months imprisonment.
12. On that charge, you are convicted now and sentenced to serve 1 year and 2 months imprisonment. Time served, if there has been any, is to be deducted from that sentence.

_____________________
JUSTICE E M AITKEN