Jailed thief gets more time [1]
Wednesday, May 11, 2022 - 19:39
Prolific thief Sione Katoa who is currently serving a prison sentence was sentenced to 11-months imprisonment for common assault, serious housebreaks and theft of high value electronic goods.
Hon. Mr Justice Cooper sentenced him on five counts, after he pleaded guilty on 7 January. His warrant was only executed on 2 November 2021.
The first offfences were committted on 2 August 2015 at the home of the complainant Mr 'Akau'ola in Lapaha.
The judge said, the complainant who was asleep at home woke and found that his two Toshiba laptops were missing. Then seven-days later, his vehicle was broken into and $40 pa'anga was stolen. The laptops were worth $2,500 each.
The common assault was committed on 26 July 2016 when the defendant repeatedly punched his sister on the head.
The other serious housebreaks and thefts of high value were on 11 August 2016.
“The complainant, Miss 'Akau'ola was asleep in her bedroom on the upper floor of the two story house where she lived in Lapaha.
“At around 2:00am she was awoken by a noise and found a man in her bedroom going through her property. He fled with her iphone, which was ultimately recovered worth USD$900.
“The offences in counts 1 and 2 and counts 4 and 5 are a year apart. When considering the overall sentence that is a significant gap in the offending and so, on the face of it, it would appear hard to suggest it was part of a course of conduct,” the judge said.
The offender, who was nearly 22 years old at the time, had a record of offences.
“In 2011 there were numerous offences of house breaking, the record shows he was convicted on a 32 count indictment and received a six-year sentence. Then further housebreaking offences in 2019, which he received a further 2 year sentence."
He then committed drug offences in 2020 and further house breaking offences in 2021, for which he is currently serving 10-months overall sentence imposed by the Magistrate's Court in December 2021.
"I approach this as if he were being sentenced in 2016 for these offences and so as a 22-year-old. That being so, I would have considered that it was right, in all the circumstances especially what has been said in his probation report and that he has expressed remorse, so I have decided to make these sentences concurrent, so as to give a sentence of 11 months."
The judge in sentencing him to 11-months imprisonment made it concurrent with his 10-months sentence.
That means at the completion of that 10-months sentence he will serve a further one month before he is released.