Suliana Fate (21) who was convicted of knocking-out a man with a stick while drunk, before stealing his vehicle in Ma'ufanga received a suspended jail sentence, together with two other co-accused.

Lord Chief Justice Whitten sentenced Suliana, her brother Saitoni (19) and his girlfriend Siosi'ana (19) on February 25, at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court. They pleaded guilty to all of the offences.

On the night of August 1, 2020 Suliana met the complainant at a bar on Vuna Road, where they had a few drinks. When the bar closed, they agreed to go to the complainant's brother's house at Ma'ufanga to continue drinking.

When they reached the house, Suliana hit him on his head with a stick causing him to lose consciousness. She then took his vehicle (a Black Honda valued at $11,000) to her aunt's house at Ha'alalo.

On the same morning, Suliana took the vehicle and parked it at Saitoni's home. She also told her two co-accused that she had stolen the vehicle.

Nevertheless, Saitoni tried to sell the vehicle to another person, who refused once he knew the vehicle was stolen.

The complainant lodged ;a complaint with the police on the same day, resulting in their arrests.

Her evidence

At the same time, Suliana told the probation officer that on the night of the offending, she had gone drinking with friends and at some point, her friends left without her. 

She was alone in the bar and the complainant approached her and invited her to drink with him at his home.

Suliana described the place she was taken to as a deserted house, where the complainant started sexually harassing her. She hit him until he blacked out and stole the keys to his vehicle.


Drunken spur of the moment

The Chief Justice said the gravity of Suliana's offending attracted mixed considerations.

On the one hand, she said she assaulted the complainant because he was making sexual advances towards her. On one view, that may be regarded as self defence. But that is not how the Crown has put the case to which Suliana has pleaded guilty to, he said.

Suliana hit him unconscious and opportunistically stole the complainant's vehicle. No explanation has been given for that seemingly contradictory behaviour.

“There is no suggestion of any pre-meditation or plan to effectively rob the complainant. It appeared to have been a drunken spur of the moment reaction to the situation in which she found herself in. It may also reasonably be attributed to her relative youth, said the Chief Justice.

Suliana was then sentenced to 16-months imprisonment for theft and common assault. While, Saitoni got 12-months for receiving stolen property and Siosi'ana had eight months for harbouring criminals.

All of their sentences were fully suspended on certain conditions.