Lautaimi Makafilia (31) was sentenced to four-years imprisonment for the serious housebreaking and theft of electronic goods whose value exceeded $82,000 pa’anga from Lord's Mobile.

Lord Chief Justice Whitten KC sentenced him on 20 January at the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa. He pleaded guilty to the two charges in December, 2022.

The court heard he was a former employee at this work place. 

On 26 March, 2022 the owner of the shop, Anita Singh, opened for business and noticed that several mobile phones, belonging to Lords and its customers were missing. 

Security video showed that a few days earlier on 24 March, a person had broken in through the back window. 

The owner identified a substantial number of electrical goods had been stolen including laptop computers, tablets, mobile phones and DVD players. The total value of the stolen goods exceeded $82,000.

On 30 March a detective viewed the CCTV footage and identified the defendant, with whom he was familiar.

Tonga Police then executed a search warrant for a residence at which the defendant was staying in April, and under the defendant's bed, they found a diary with 'Mamta Singh' written on it and an HP laptop on a shelf. He was then arrested.

Of the goods stolen, only one phone (valued at approximately $5,000) was recovered.

The Lord Chief Justice said the defendant's record plainly demonstrated that successive terms of imprisonment had not resulted in any lasting rehabilitation, nor had they been an effective deterrent against the present offending.

"I also consider it necessary, given the defendant's recidivism for housebreaking and theft, to add weight in the analysis to the need to protect the community by disabling the defendant from further offending of this kind through incarceration.

“Therefore, after weighing all those considerations in the balance, I am prepared to give the defendant the benefit of the doubt in the hope that some suspension will be an incentive for rehabilitation and he will be aided in that endeavor by the supervision of his probation officer during that period."

The defendant was then sentenced to four-years imprisonment with the final year suspended for two-years on conditions.