Seasoned thief of Tongan mats jailed [1]
Wednesday, July 7, 2021 - 17:27
Lancellot ‘Amanaki Tae Vailea (32) of Fou’i was sentenced to two-years six-months imprisonment for serious housebreaking and theft of Tongan mats and artifacts valued at $15,100 pa’anga.
Hon. Acting Justice Tupou sentenced him on June 29, at the Nuku’alofa Supreme Court.
The complainant, Vaimoana Soakimi was living in a two-storey house at Tu'atakilangi. The judge said, at around 12:00pm on January 11, 2020 the complainant left her house for work.
Around 9:00 pm the accused and an accomplice hitched a ride near a gas station at Pahu. They asked the driver to take them to their houses at Tu'atakilangi so they could get something from their house. On their way, the accused gave the driver directions to the complainant’s house. They parked beside the road and the accused went into the house. Afterwards they went and dropped the accused and the accomplice at the same place they were picked up.
At around 10:00pm, the complainant returned home and found the door to her kitchen and the washing room open.
He said, the complainant climbed up the stairs and a man from the neighbour called and asked her whether there was anything missing because he noticed a light from a torch being shone around downstairs and that there was a blue vehicle and gave the license number parked in front of the gate.
The items stolen were mostly Tongan mats and a laptop valued at a total of $15,100. None were recovered.
The Crown submitted an aggravating factor was that these Tongan mats and artifacts had personal value to the complainant, which have been taken from her forever.
Meanwhile, the accused failed four times to attend to the probation office for his pre-sentence interview, after pleading guilty in December 2020.
The judge proceeded with sentencing without a pre-sentence report from the probation office.
The accused has four previous convictions for similar offences of housebreaking and theft of Tongan handicrafts, committed in 2019-20.
"It would appear that the accused is a seasoned offender of the crime of housebreaking and theft."
The judge sentened him to a total of two-years six-months imprisonment.