Thief who repeatedly broke into Fua'amotu home jailed [1]
Saturday, June 11, 2022 - 01:11. Updated on Saturday, June 11, 2022 - 01:11.
Hotili Saafi (27) was sentenced to 20-months imprisonment for serious housebreaking and theft of goods valued at $4,860 pa’anga, at a home he broke into numerous times in Fua'amotu.
Hon. Mr Justice Cooper sentenced him on 3 June, at the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa. He pleaded guilty to both counts but disputed the amount of property that was stolen.
He was sentenced in the serious house breaking and the theft of 2 electric saws, 3 Tongan traditional mats, a 'left-over case of Pure beer', 1 sander, 1 ngatu and 2 speakers.
The approximate value of the stolen property was $4,860.
On three occasions between the beginning of June and the end July 2021, while the owner of the property in Fua'amotu was away in New Zealand, the defendant broke in and stole the items.
The judge said a serious aspect of this case is the damage that he did to the property.
"He broke his way through the ceiling into four locked rooms and in doing so caused some $2,350 worth of repairs required to be made by the home owner premeditated offending."
The defendant also repeatedly broke in and stole from the same property.
Meanwhile, he had previous convictions for serious housebreaking and associated thefts in 2018, 2019 and 2020. For the first two he was given fully suspended terms. The latter was activated when he was sentenced for the offence committed in 2020.
The judge sentenced him to 20-months imprisonment, with the final six-months suspended for two-years on conditions.
The sentence was ordered to run from the date of his first remand in custody on 5 April this year.