Police v Alalatoa [2015] WSSC 270 (6 October 2015)

SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
Police v Alalatoa [2015] WSSC 270

Case name:	Police v Alalatoa
Citation:	[2015] WSSC 270
Decision date:	06 October 2015
Parties:	Police (prosecution) v Toa Taua Alalatoa, male of Leauvaa and Tafaigata
Hearing date(s):
File number(s):	S2374/15, S2527/15, S2563/15 and S2564/15
Jurisdiction:	Criminal
Place of delivery:	Supreme Court of Samoa, Mulinuu
Judge(s):	Justice Ema Aitken
On appeal from:
Order:	You are convicted and sentenced now to a term of twelve months imprisonment. That will be served cumulative on the current term. The term then that I impose today, the 12 months cumulative sentence I direct be served at the prison on Savaii
Representation:	O Tagaloa for prosecution Defendant in person
Catchwords:	Escaping from custody – intentional damage – armed with dangerous weapon – threatening to kill
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:

Toa Taua Alalatoa, male of Leauvaa and Tafaigata
Defendant

Counsel: Mr O Tagaloa for prosecution

Defendant in person

Sentence: 06 October 2015

Oral Sentence of Justice E M Aitken

1. Mr Toa, you appear for sentence having pleaded guilty to four charges, one of escaping from custody, a charge of intentional damage, a charge of being armed with a dangerous weapon namely two machetes and a charge of threatening to kill.
2. On the 25^th of July this year, you escaped from Tafaigata prison because you are upset from being moved from one cell to another. You went to the home of the Minister of Corrections to complain about what had happened. You then returned yourself to the prison but instead of handing yourself in, you hid in the kitchen. You located and armed yourself with two machetes and you went to the Commissioner’s office where you slashed the window screens causing damage.
3. The cost of repairing the damage was $65.00tala. The Deputy Commissioner was on the prison property and you then approached him and complained to him also about the unfairness of the decision to move cells. The officer responsible for that decision was also present and in respect of that officer you issued a quite significant threat to kill her together with some abusive words.
4. Mr Toa, I acknowledge that having escaped from prison you did return yourself to the prison within the matter of hours and certainly there was no offending while you escaped. However, possession of a machete in the prison context is a serious charge because of the potential for real harm to flow from that. And the threat to kill a prison officer was a serious threat given that you were armed with a machete at the time.
5. In terms of the possession of the machetes and the threats to kill, a starting point of twelve months imprisonment is appropriate. There must be an uplift which I fix at six months to have regard to the intentional damage and in particular to the escaped prison. Unfortunately, the sentence must be further increase Mr Toa because of your previous convictions and the fact that you were already serving a sentence at the time. I add three months to it and that takes me to twenty-one months imprisonment.
6. However, I do accept that you have apologized and that was a genuine apology and that permits a small reduction of the sentence. I fix that at three months, you are also entitled to credit for your pleas of guilty, the maximum credit which in this case would be six months.
7. So it follows that on each of these four charges, you are convicted and sentenced now to a term of twelve months imprisonment. That will be served cumulative on the current term. The term then that I impose today, the 12 months cumulative sentence I direct be served at the prison on Savaii.

_____________________

JUSTICE E M AITKEN