Fokikovi Lauaki (28) was jailed for stealing $144,660 from Luna'eva Enterprises Limited during the months of January to September 2022.

Justice Cooper sentenced her to three-years and two-months imprisonment, the final 18-months suspended for two-years, on conditions, on 4 October at the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa.

On 1 June this year she pleaded guilty to a single count of theft on arraignment. The court heard that she was employed by Luna'eva from March 2020 to January 2022, her offending came to light in September that year.

She had been trained in the use of the EFTPOS machine at the Veitongo branch, where she worked. Using that device, she diverted the company's funds into her own bank account from January to June 2022. That was a sum of $81,600 that was stolen by making 12 separate transactions over those six-months.

From July to September that year a further $63,000 was stolen from the company in seven transactions, one as large as $18,000. The last $10,000 was stolen and deposited in the account of the sister of her de facto partner, Tevita Manu.

The judge stated the owner of Luna'eva, 'Eve'eva Mafi, was alerted to the theft when one of her shop's transaction machines would not work. Enquiries of the bank led to Miss Lauaki's thefts being revealed.

“It must go without saying that such a substantial loss would cause a great deal of concern and worry, in turn it would affect the running of the business and was an extra layer of problems that needed to be addressed on top of the day-to-day management of a busy firm. It must have caused profound difficulties and anxiety to Miss Mafi above and beyond the effect of the loss itself."

“Whilst I accept that Miss Lauaki may not have had a very senior role in the company, she still was sufficiently trusted with a very important function when trained in the use of the EFPOS machine. In that respect, as can been seen by the sums involved in this case, she held a great deal of responsibility value of loss."

The Crown submitted aggravating factors included that no repayments had been made, breach of trust and premeditation.

“In analysing those submissions, there may be a danger of double-counting if they were all to be accepted. Theft is loss to the victim. To not repay is not a further loss. Repayment may in some circumstances be mitigation; I cannot see how the contrary is aggravating.

“The seriousness of the offending is both the value and also the breach of trust and length of time the offending took place over (that referred to under the section "premeditation" in the Crown's submissions).

“The transfers, as they were almost all made after she had been dismissed. It transpired that 4 January 2022 was her last working day. What she did thereafter was to go to the branches of Luna'eva at Veitongo gas station and also the Malapo branch.

“With the convenience of other members of staff she obtained the EFTPOS machine and made the subsequent transfers, so stealing from Luna'eva. Over the course of 9-months, she attended the company stores 18 times to do just this,” he said.

Harm

At the same time, the judge said the harm one can safely infer, involved the impact on the running of the business, emotional distress, high level of inconvenience and a loss of confidence the crime would have caused.

“Weighing all these factors together I conclude that a 5-year starting point, as submitted, following the authority of Wall v R is too high. There the monies taken were significantly more.

“I do not lose sight of all the aggravating factors I have referred to. Especially the fact that she returned to the stores owned by her former employer for over 8 months, after being dismissed, to steal and involved other members of staff.  Therefore, I set a starting point in this case of 4-year's imprisonment. I increased that to 5-years for all the aggravating features,” he said.

The judge reduced that by 6-months to reflect her youth and previous good character.

“That gives 4 and a half years. That I reduce that by 30% for her early guilty plea which is a reduction of 16-months. That gives a sentence of 38-months; that is 3-years and 2-months imprisonment,” he said.

Sentence

The judge then noted the suspension principles.

"Miss Lauaki was said to be remorseful, has engaged with the Salvation Army. Yet I have serious doubts about the psychiatric reports given the lack of any contemporary corroboration and the manner in which the transfers took place and that they involved manipulating other members of staff to her ends. That she did this after being dismissed shows a particularly brazen character and one determined to cheat.

“That she is the mother of a very young child, less than one year old and the impact on him must not be overlooked. It is not the case that she became pregnant after she was caught. Balancing these competing factors the Court will suspended 18-months of the 3-years and 2-month's imprisonment, for 2-years."

“Any breach of a term of the portion of her suspended sentence will make her liable to be sentenced to the whole suspended term. I reserve any breach to myself,” the judge ordered.