Man with forged passport gets suspended sentence [1]
Monday, April 29, 2019 - 20:35
A Sri Lankan citizen, Mr Vaseeth Samsudeen received a fully suspended sentence after using a forged French passport to enter Tonga and attempting to depart from Tonga, in May last year.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of knowingly dealing with a forged document.
On May 10, 2018, the accused was given permission to enter Tonga by presenting to a Customs Officer, a French passport, knowing that the passport was forged, at Fua'amotu International Airport.
The second charge was that on May 12, 2018 Mr Samsudeen presented the forged French passport to an employee of the Air Terminal Services to process his check-in to board a flight from Tonga to New Zealand, at the airport before being arrested.
Lord Chief Justice O.G. Paulsen during sentencing on April 17, said Mr Samsudeen admitted that he had no entitlement to a French passport.
He told the Police that he had received threats to his life in Sri Lanka and had made arrangements to collect the French passport from an associate in Hong Kong, for which he had paid a large sum of money.
He had then flown from Hong Kong to Fiji and then to Tonga intending to the fly to New Zealand where he would seek asylum.
The Chief Justice said, in a letter to the Court on 6 December 2018, Mr Samsudeen stated that in 2006 he had witnessed the murder of aid workers in the Mutur area of Sri Lanka and afterwards he and his family were threatened.
He said that because of this he moved to London and applied for refugee status but returned to Sri Lanka for family reasons in 2015.
United Nations
The Chief Justice said, when the accused appeared for sentence on December 11, 2018 he was not prepared to sentence him without some enquiries being made as to his criminal history (if any) in Sri Lanka and England, how it was proposed that he might pay for the airfare to leave Tonga and confirmation that he is eligible to legally enter any destination he proposes to travel to upon leaving Tonga.
“Since then he has been on bail. I was told that he had also been supported by members of the Muslim community in Tonga and that attempts were being made to raise money to pay for his travel,” he said.
In light of Mr. Samsudeen's expressed concerns as to his safety should he be forced to return to Sri Lanka, the Chief Justice made enquires and provided to his then counsel information concerning the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
He said some contact was made with that office and on April 9, 2019 the Court received a letter from the Deputy Regional Representative at Canberra listing sources of information on the rights of refugees but giving no indication that Mr.Samsudeen had taken steps to seek formal assistance.
It appears that there is no record of Mr Samsudeen having any criminal convictions in the United Kingdom or Sri Lanka but that he had entered the United Kingdom illegally in 2010 and was deported from there to Sri Lanka in 2015, said the Chief Justice.
“This contradicts his letter of 6 December, 2018. When the case was last before me on April 10, 2018, I was advised that Mr. Samsudeen still did not have funds to leave Tonga. I advised counsel that I would adjourn the case one final time to April 17, 2019 and unless there was anything new to report I would sentence him,” said the Chief Justice.
Mr. Samsudeen was then sentenced to two-years imprisonment on each charge, in which sentences are concurrent.
The Chief Justice then fully suspended the sentences on the conditions that he is not to commit any offences punishable by imprisonment while he remains in Tonga.
He was ordered to also pay within one month from April 17 the sum of $1,000 pa'anga into the Court and is to leave Tonga no later than two months from April 17.
Mr. Samsudeen may apply to the Court for an extension of time to remain for a limited period if there are exceptional difficulties in facilitating travel on written notice to the Crown.
However, his Sri Lankan passport is to be released to him only upon approval from a Supreme Court judge and after payment of the sum to obtain his ticket and travel, said the Chief Justice.
The Court shall however on request provide a certified copy of his passport for the purpose of arranging his travel from Tonga. Otherwise, Mr. Samsudeen is not to leave Tongatapu.
"Should Mr. Samsudeen fail to abide by any of these conditions, the Crown may apply to have the suspended period of imprisonment activated and served."