Police v Salima [2026] WSSC 16 (1 April 2026)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
Police v Salima [2026] WSSC 16 (1 April 2026)

Case name:	Police v Salima
Citation:	[2026] WSSC 16
Decision date:	1st April 2026
Parties:	POLICE (Informant) v TIA MEAALOFA FIAULA SALIMA male of Safune – Savaii.
Hearing date(s):
File number(s):	2026-00020
Jurisdiction:	Supreme Court - CRIMINAL
Place of delivery:	Mulinuu
Judge(s):	Justice Leiataualesa Daryl Clarke
On appeal from:
Order:	Accordingly, on both charges before the Court that of burglary and theft, you are convicted and sentence to: time served remanded in custody; and you are now placed under the supervision of the Probation service for 18 months and directed to carry out 150 hours of community work. Attend such programs as you may be directed by the Probation service.
Representation:	J. Leung Wai for Prosecution Defendant appear in person
Catchwords:	burglary and theft, community-based sentence, first offender, relative youth.
Words and phrases:
Legislation cited:
Cases cited:
Summary of decision:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
HELD AT MULINUU

BETWEEN:

P O L I C E

Informant

AND

TIA MEAALOFA FIAULA SALIMA, male of Safune-Savaii

Defendant

Counsels: J. Leung Wai for Prosecution
Defendant appear in person
Sentence: 1^st April 2026.

ORAL SENTENCE

The Charges:

1. Tia, you appear for sentence on one charge of burglary and one charge of theft.
2. The charge of burglary carries the maximum imprisonment term of ten (10) years. The charge of theft carries the maximum imprisonment term of seven (7) years imprisonment.

The Offending:

3. According to the Summary of Facts dated the 12th of March 2026 which you have accepted, on the 12th November 2025 between 2:00pm and 3:00pm, the victim was at work while her mother was asleep inside their family home. You went to the victim’s home to sell brooms. When there was no response to your effort to make contact with the home, you climbed over the perimeter fence and entered the home.
4. You then entered the home without any lawful authority and stole a number of different items. The total value of the items stolen by you was $3,768.00.

Background of the Accused:

5. The summary of facts shows that you are a 21-year-old male of Safune-Savaii.
6. The Probation Service report states that you were raised in your village of Samatau. You are the fourth of five children and your family primarily relied on the family plantation. You completed school at year four. You have only been employed once, working for a building contractor. You are said to share a six-year-old daughter with your de-facto partner, Lina of Lalovaea.
7. Your mother in-law, Sapi, speaks of your good character, and that you take good care of the immediate family as well as your in-laws as well as being a regular church goer. She believes that your offending has been influenced by your consumption of alcohol, but you are generally a good person.

The Victim:

8. The home owner is a 49-year-old woman from Lalovaea. At the time of your burglary, her elderly mother was asleep in the home. As a result of your burglary and theft, she is now very fearful and has lost her sense of security in the home. So, this has had a significant impact on the elderly mother.

Aggravating Features of the Offending:

9. The aggravating features of your offending are as follows:
   • first, is the value of the goods stolen;
   • the impact on the victim’s mother of your offending;
   • while you were selling the brooms; you used the opportunity to scope out and then burgle and steal from that home; and
   • the prevalence of this type of offending.

Mitigating Features of the Offending:

10. The mitigating features of the offending is that the phone has been recovered.

Aggravating Features in Respect of the Offender:

11. There is no aggravating feature in respect of you as an offender, you are a first offender.

Mitigating Factors Personal to the Offender:

12. In terms of the mitigating factors personal to you as an offender I take into account:
    • (a) your prior good character;
    • (b) your relative youth; and
    • (c) your guilty pleas.

Discussion:

13. Tia, burglary and theft is a highly prevalent offence in Samoa. Generally, it is committed by foolish young men just like you. Almost no one in Samoa is immune from this offence of burglary and theft, whether it’s burglaries of their businesses or burglaries and thefts from their homes. The prevalence of this type of offending is because of people like you. In your case, you live at Lalovaea and you burgled and stole from your own neighbor. For that behavior, you should be ashamed.
14. Because of the seriousness of these types of offending and its prevalence, Prosecution has asked for an imprisonment term of 1-2 years’ imprisonment. In the alternative, they suggested a community-based sentence.
15. I have given careful consideration to your matter, and it is a borderline case in which imprisonment is available to me. I note you also have other pending burglary and theft matters before the court in which you have pleaded not guilty to. Had I been sentencing you today for those matters in which you have pleaded not guilty to together with this burglary and theft, there is no question that you would be imprisoned today.
16. But today, I sentence you as a first offender on the basis of a single burglary and theft only. In sentencing you, in your favor is your prior good character and in particular your relative youth and your first offender status.
17. I have therefore determined to impose a non-custodial sentence today. In imposing a community-based sentence, I bear in mind that you have already been remanded in custody for three (3) months. I hope that from that period that you have been remanded in custody, you have learned a valuable lesson and that you do not wish to repeat this type of offending.

Result:

18. Accordingly, on both charges before the court that of burglary and theft, you are convicted and sentence to:
    • time served remanded in custody; and
    • you are now placed under the supervision of the Probation service for 18 months and directed to carry out 150 hours of community work. Attend such other programs as you may be directed by the Probation service.

JUSTICE CLARKE