By Linny Folau

Five men were found guilty of charges including theft, abetment to theft and receiving stolen property after over 300 cartons of meat were stolen from a container belonging to Star Fish company, at Ma’ufanga. One of the accused was a security guard who was paid “to look the other way” over a period of months in 2022. They will be sentenced in June. 

In a verdict delivered on 23 May, at the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa, Acting Justice Langi convicted Saimone Vaka and Andy Lavelua of theft.

‘Ofaloto Pousini was found guilty of abetment to the theft.

Viliami Blake and Charlie Pahulu were found guilty of receiving stolen property

All accused denied the charges and put the prosecutions to proof.

The offences were committed when the accused Vaka and Lavelua, between July to August 2022, stole the cartons of chicken and mutton belonging to the complainant, Mr. Raymond Yu.

Charlie Pahulu was convicted of receiving stolen property, when he received 60 cartons of meat from Viliami Pomale Blake.

'Ofaloto Pousini was guilty of abetment, when he indirectly encouraged Mr. Vaka and Mr. Lavelua to commit theft, by failing to stop them from removing cartons of chicken. 

Viliami Blake was convicted of receiving stolen property, when he received 20 cartons of meat from Mr. Vaka.

Offences

Mr. Yu is the owner of Star Fish company. He also owned a container of meat, which was left at his warehouse at Ma’ufanga. Mr. Vaka lived in a house situated only a few meters away from the complainant's container of meat.

The second and third accused, Lavelua and ‘Ofaloto were both employed by the complainant to work for him. Between the months of July-August 2022, Lavelua had the key to the container of meat. Inside the container of meat were boxes of 20kg mutton and boxes of chicken.

Lavelua found a key to the container of meat and told Vaka about it. Together they planned to steal cartons of meat from the container. On several occasions between the months of July - August 2022, Vaka and Lavelua stole over 200 cartons of mutton and over 100 cartons of chicken from the container.

On some occasions, the accused Pousini was present at the compound, as the security guard charged with making sure the container was safe. However, he failed to stop Vaka and Lavelua from taking the boxes of meat from the container and in exchange he received approximately $300. On several occasions, Vaka took cartons of meat and sold them to Blake, who in turn sold the cartons to other persons including Mr. Pahulu. Pahulu therefore ended up buying over 60 boxes of meat from Vaka and he went around and sold them at Houma and Matahau.

The court heard that on the first week of August 2022, the complainant discovered the missing cartons of meat from the container and lodged a complaint with the Police. The complainant alleged that he had lost over 743 cartons of mutton valued at $222,900 and over 765 cartons of whole chicken valued at $84,150.

Rejection of accuseds' versions of events

At the outset, the Acting judge did not believe any of the accused persons' versions of events and rejected all of their evidence in their entirety.

“All accused persons had voluntarily admitted to the charges against them in their record of interview. It is trite law that a confession alone is sufficient to convict an accused unless such confession is shown to have been made under duress. I do not believe Mr. Vaka's version of what happened. His description of what happened was unreliable and his nonchalant demeanour in court gave me an impression of someone who knew he was guilty but just wanted his day in court. His evidence contradicted what he had told the police when he was interviewed.

“He had freely admitted in court to taking boxes of meat and selling them. He stated in his record of interview that Mr. Lavelua had told him he found a key to the container and that is when they began taking boxes of meat from the container. In court he claimed that they found the boxes of meat outside the container and they had tried to inform the complainant, she stated.

“Overall, I reject his evidence of what happened. Mr. Vaka also disputed the amount he is being charged with. I do not believe he only received the goods from Mr. Lavelua who claims to have found the container open. The accused seems to have forgotten that there are photographs of him pointing to an area where he had hidden the keys to the container.

“I have no doubt that this offence was planned by Mr. Vaka and Mr. Lavelua who had access to the keys of the container. As stated in Manchent v Quinn, it is not necessary for the Crown to prove all the items in the indictment have been stolen. It is sufficient that the Crown can prove any one of those items have been stolen.”

Access to keys

The Acting judge stated that Mr. Lavelua was not a credible witness and rejected his evidence. This crime was organized by him and Vaka. He had access to the keys of the container and he sought the assistance of Mr. Vaka to help him steal the boxes of mutton and chicken and to sell them for their benefits and the benefit of others.

“In relation to the third accused Mr. Pousini, I have no doubt that he had assisted Mr. Vaka and Mr. Lavelua to commit the theft of the boxes of meat. Not only did he admit to this in his record of interview, he had admitted this in court despite first stating that he had not known about the theft. He later admitted to having looked the other way and receiving around $300 from the first and second accused. I have no doubt that he knew exactly what Mr. Vaka and Mr. Lavelua were doing and he had purposely allowed them to take the products by not stopping them or calling the complainant to inform him.

“The fact that he knew what was going on and failing to stop them and failing to inform his boss makes him guilty of abetting or assisting the first and second defendants to commit the theft of the meat boxes. I do not accept counsel's submission that he was much smaller in size and would not have been able to stop Mr. Vaka and Mr. Lavelua,” the judge stated.

“Moreover, Mr. Vaka admitted to have given him $300 for his part in looking the other way and the accused himself admitted to having received $300 from them.

Knew goods were stolen

“In relation to Mr. Charlie Pahulu, I have no doubt that he too is guilty of receiving the boxes of meat knowing them to have been stolen. He has voluntarily confessed to the police. The circumstances of the time he received them in the early mornings house does raise a reasonable inference that he knew the goods were stolen.

“Lastly, based on the evidence, I have no doubt that he is guilty of receiving stolen property. The circumstances under which he received them are suspicious and he should have known that they were stolen,” stated the Acting judge.

“Overall, the evidence against all accused persons were overwhelming and I am satisfied that the prosecution has proven all the elements of the charge against all of them beyond any reasonable doubt. They are accordingly convicted.”

They will be sentenced on 28 June.