By Linny Folau

‘Etuate Siaosi Katoa (32) was jailed after pleading guilty to the falsification of accounts and theft of building supplies valued at $19,644 from his employer, while working as its delivery driver.

Acting Justice Langi sentenced him on 30 April at the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa, after pleading guilty to the three charges.

The complainant is Tony Raj Kumar, the manager of Anna's Building Supplies in Kolofo'ou.

The court was told that on 16 September 2023, the defendant was at the business warehouse at Fangaloto loading building supplies to deliver to a customer. The business practice for managing the delivery of purchased items to customers checks the quantities throughout various stages of payment, loading and delivery.

At the warehouse, Aveave Fonua discovered that the amount of hardie flex sheets loaded by the defendant into the delivery truck was greater than the amount on the delivery book.

Aveave told the defendant the load exceeded the quantity that needed to be delivered. The defendant responded that they would unload the excess materials. Aveave then took the defendant's delivery book to double-check the records and in reviewing two delivery receipts, she discovered there was a discrepancy in the total amount compared to the quantity itemized on the delivery receipt.

Aveave took a photo of the pages and the receipts and reported the matter to the complainant and his partner, who were both in Fiji at the time.

The complainant and his partner then contacted the defendant and asked him about the changes he made on the delivery book. The defendant admitted to them and said he made the changes so that he could take the excess material to fix his house. The complainant told the defendant to stay behind after work so they could talk, as they would be returning to Tonga on that same day. However, the defendant left the office and did not contact the complainant.

Falsified documents

The complainant then continued to review the sales receipts and delivery records, which the defendant was responsible for delivering. He discovered that this had occurred multiple times and had calculated the extra material, in which the defendant has falsified in the delivery book and taken from the warehouse to a total amount of $19,644 pa'anga for August and September.

In August 2023, the defendant falsified the business delivery book by inserting an additional number to the specified quantity or altering the number in the specified quantity, thereby increasing the quantity removed from the business warehouse from the actual quantity which was ordered and paid by the customers.

The complainant summarised the loss in August to a total of $11,689 pa'anga. ln September 2023, the defendant falsified the business delivery book again in the same manner. The complainant summarised the loss in September to a total of $7,955 pa'anga, with the total loss summarised came to a total of at $19,644 pa'anga.

On the last week of August, up to the first week of September, the defendant and Kolio made several deliveries of excess building supplies to 'Unaloto at Puke and there were several drop offs to a house at Tofoa.

On 21 September 2023, the complainant then lodged a complaint to the police about the alleged falsification of the business delivery book by the defendant. He was arrested and detained in custody, then on 26 September 2023, during a police interview, he confessed and cooperated with the police.

The Crown submitted that the aggravating factors were that he was in a position of trust, and he breached that trust. There was also some premeditation and deception involved in the offending. Mitigating factors were his guilty plea at the first available opportunity, being a first-time offender and his cooperation with the police.

The defendant also did not dispute any statement on the summary of facts, but only added that he was genuinely remorseful and deeply regretted his actions.

In regards to compensation, the court was told that the defendant was in no financial position to be able to provide any compensation to the complainant. He deeply regretted his offending and submitted that he used the proceeds, which was not the actual value of the goods, a very low amount to drink with his co-workers and now realised that it was very wrong to do so.

“On rehabilitation, the defendant is young and has a young family that depend on him for support and maintenance. His counsel submitted, a fully suspended sentence would adequately deal with his offending, and would take this opportunity to turn a new leaf and not re-offend in the future,” stated the judge.

Acting Justice Langi ordered on each count of falsification of accounts, and theft, the defendant be sentenced to one year and six months imprisonment each to be served concurrently.

The last 15 months was then suspended for two-years on conditions, which means he is now serving three months in prison.