Habitual property offender jailed for stealing from Poutaha shop [1]
Friday, September 29, 2023 - 21:18. Updated on Saturday, September 30, 2023 - 09:35.
By Linny Folau
Siaosi Havea (28) was sentenced to three-years five-months imprisonment for serious housebreaking and the theft of goods valued at $10,118 pa’anga from a shop at Poutaha.
Acting Justice Langi sentenced him on 28 September at the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa. This was after he pleaded guilty the offences on 30 January this year, when he entered the retail shop of Zhangqin Lin as a trespasser and committed the theft of goods valued at a total of $10,118.50.
The summary of facts prepared by the Crown was read out to the defendant in court and he agreed that they were the true facts of the offending.
A/Justice Langi said the offending was discovered on Monday 30 January 2023. At about 7am, the complainant woke up and was about to open up his shop when he noticed a big mess at the sales counter which alerted him that a person was or had been there. He then noticed the door to the shop's storage room was open and upon inspection he noticed that the roof of the room had been broken from the outside. Footage taken from the CCTV installed outside the shop showed that at 3:00am a male person climbed up the side of the fence and made his way to the roof of the shop.
The defendant took a number of goods valued at $10,118.50, which included several Digicel phone cards valued at $1900 and U-call phone cards valued at $2,200 and cash of $3900.
A flash drive of the CCTV footage was provided to Detective Fakaanga by the complainant.
On 8 February 2023 Detective Fakaanga received a phone call from Sergeant Leveni to go and pick up twenty $5 U-call recharge cards from his house which he said he received from a police informer. The informer was said to have received the recharge cards from a male person who he met at Latu Mata'u's house at Veitongo.
On 15 February 2023 a search was executed at the residence of Latu Mata'u where police confiscated several U-call recharge cards. When asked about the cards, Mr. Mata'u informed police that he had received them from one Ms. Malamala, who informed police she had taken the defendant and a few other people in her vehicle to drop them to Ha'alalo. On their way to Ha'alalo she was told to turn into the road leading to Mataki'eua and the defendant told her that she was to stop the vehicle when he would say stop. She turned to Mataki'eua and just before the area where the Water Board is situated, the defendant and the rest of the people inside the car got out and took two black bags with them. Later she took them to Sopu where they counted the money and she was given $250 for petrol.
The defendant was arrested on 23 February 2023.
The Crown submitted the aggravating factors in this case were that the defendant was a repeat offender for property offences; this was a crime of opportunity; he targeted the theft of a shop during the early morning hours and none of the stolen items have been recovered, causing a loss to the complainant.
History of criminal activities
A/Justice Langi said the defendant has a long history of criminal activities and had been sentenced on numerous occasions to complete the Salvation Army Drugs and Alcohol programs.
The probation office contacted the Salvation Army to follow up on the completion of these sentences and it was reported that the Accused had never once attended any of the programs and courses.
In his record, he has previous convictions from 2009 to 2023 that included not only property offences but for attempted rape, indecent assault and possession of illicit drugs. In 2019, he was convicted of Attempted Rape and sentenced to three years imprisonment. He was also convicted of theft and sentenced to six-months' imprisonment concurrent to count 1. He was ordered to serve two-years and six-months with the final 12-months suspended on conditions;
The judge considered the fact that the defendant had previous convictions for property offences, a serious aggravating feature in this case.
“However, whilst previous convictions are relevant to establish the character of an accused for sentencing purposes and whether he has a predilection to commit a particular type of crime, a sentencing Judge should be on guard against sentencing the accused twice for the same offences on which he had previously been convicted and sentenced,” she said.
“I am mindful that any additions made to the sentence in this case does not punish the defendant twice for offences, for which he has been convicted and sentenced, but his previous convictions for property offences do indicate a predilection to commit the particular types of offences of which he is convicted, in which case it is the duty of the Court, for the protection of the public, to take them into consideration and lengthen the period of confinement accordingly.
“It is quite obvious from the defendant’s previous convictions that he is a habitual property offender and is a high risk of re-offending. He has refused any attempts at rehabilitation by failing to attend and complete the Salvation Army programs which he had been ordered to complete in previous sentences.”
The accused was then sentenced to three-years and five-months imprisonment, with no suspension.