Lolina ‘Ofa (24) was sentenced to 15-months imprisonment for numerous counts of forgery and theft of $18,189 pa’anga from a family business. The sentence was fully suspended, at the Nuku'alofa Surpeme Court.



Justice Langi sentenced her on January 29, after she pleaded guilty to theft, three counts each of forgery and knowingly dealing with a forged document.

The Court heard the defendant had been customarily adopted by her maternal uncle and his wife when she was 11-years old.

The adoptive parents looked after a business, 'Lyfe Apparel and Signage' at Tokomololo, which belonged to her adoptive mother's brother, Sonatane Hafoka who lives in Australia. The business and the main office was located inside the residence where the defendant and her adoptive parents lived. The business has an account with the BSP bank and the cheque book was kept inside the business office.

Forgery

The offending occured on different occasions from September 2019 to April 2020, when the defendant took the cheque book and filled in the details and the amounts to be withdrawn then forged her uncle's signature.


She then went to bank and submitted the cheques and cashed out the amounts, which she deposited into her own bank account.

A total& of 43 cheques were cashed amounting to $18,189.60.

At this time, the owner of the business was still in Australia. He noticed the irregularities in the account and subsequently contacted the bank. He was informed by the bank that it was the defendant who cashed the cheques and deposited the money into her account.

Mr Hafoka lodged a complaint with the Police. 'Ofa was arrested and charged. She made a full confession and told the police that she had used the money for her own personal needs.

She was a first time offender.

Meanwhile, the defendant's natural parents had already started to make payments to the bank and had arranged with the bank that they will pay $500 every month, until the total was paid in full.

The bank had reimbursed Hafoka of the money taken by the defendant after agreeing to the arrangement for the defendant and her parents to pay back the money to the bank.

The defendant told the probation officer that the offending started when she began dating her boyfriend. She would then forge the cheques and cashed the money to cater for her boyfriend's expenses and also for her own needs. 

She also told the officer that in her mind she knew what she was doing was wrong but believed that if her uncle found out he would forgive her.

However, when her adopted uncle found out about what she did, he broke off all ties with the defendant and demanded that his sister and her husband remove her from his house.

The defendant also told the probation officer that she had not only brought shame upon herself and her family but her actions had ruined the relationship she had with her adopted family.

An email from the BSP bank to Crown Counsel in court confirmed that the defendant had repaid a total of $3,000 to the bank. Her natural parents would continue paying $500 every month until the balance was cleared.

Culture in play

The judge said from the defendant's explanation to the probation officer, n her mind she was just using her fa'etangata (uncle’s) money and she believed that he would forgive her if he found out.

"This is particularly important when considering the Tongan culture and the rank or status of the mother's brother in he traditional Tongan family. The mother's brother or fa'etangata is inferior to his sister and her children and the saying goes that your fa'etangata is the only person you can do whatever you wish with and take whatever you want rom."

Nowadays, only some families still practiced this and accepted it while others rejected it, said the judge.

"I believe the defendant had mistakenly believed that this idea of taking whatever you want from your fa'etangata would be applicable in her case, but unfortunately the complainant did not share her logic."

In addition, it was even made more difficult in this case because the adopted uncle of the defendant was not related to her by blood.

In the current case, the defendant had confessed to what she had done when she was confronted by the police. She had personally gone to the Attorney General's Office before her matter was called in court to inform counsels that she intended to plead guilty to all the charges.

The judge fully suspended the sentence for one-year on conditions that included 80-hours of community service.