By Linny Folau

Fredrick Palefau was jailed for five years for armed robbery using a small axe and serious assault, with the intent to rob a 36-year-old female manager at a Fast Food restaurant at Fasi, in August last year.

Acting Justice Langi sentenced him to seven and a half years imprisonment, but suspended the final two and a half years imprisonment for three years on conditions, on 5 June at the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa. The accused, who lived in Fangaloto, pleaded guilty to both counts in April.

The complainant was Lin Xi the manager of the Hungry Takeaway-Zenith fast-food restaurant located on Tupoulahi Road, where she was working, on 28 August 2023, at around 7:00pm when the robbery occurred.

The court was told that the accused was outside by the entrance door of the restaurant smoking. He was wearing a black hoodie, black pants, brown boots and a mask around his face. Two customers, Viliami Holeva and Tonga Havea, entered the restaurant to order some food.

While the complainant was working on the customers' orders, the accused approached her from behind the counter and grabbed the cashier drawer. It contained $20,000 and two Chinese national passports inside a black pouch.

The complainant and the defendant scuffled over the drawer then the accused pulled out a small axe and swung it at the complainant's left arm causing her to let go of the drawer.

The accused ran towards the door, but he slipped and fell causing some of the money inside the drawer to fall on the floor, including the small black pouch. The customer, Viliami, then reached out and grabbed a gas bottle to throw at the accused to slow him down. The accused stood up, lifted the axe as if he was going to swing it at Viliami and then grabbed some of the cash on the floor and the small black pouch and ran out of the restaurant.

After the offending the complainant noticed that she had a small scratch on her right arm where the accused had hit her with the axe.

The complainant lodged a complaint with the police and they responded and viewed the CCTV footage and were able to identify him as the person in the black hoodie.

The Acting Judge said that on 29 August 2023 at 3:00am the accused arrived at his girlfriend's house at Popua, unloaded a lot of alcohol from the car and proceeded to drink with Niu Fifita, his girlfriend's sister and others. Later that morning, the accused and others went to Nauti Ruby to purchase more alcohol. At about 12:18pm, he and others had returned to Popua as the Police had also arrived. Police observed the accused standing beside a black car.

Police found in the boot of the car the small axe used in the robbery, a black backpack, a black hoodie and brown shoes, which they identified as the same clothing worn and the axe carried by the robbery suspect in the CCTV footage. Palefau was then arrested and ordered by the Magistrate to be held in custody until 19 September 2023 for a psychiatric assessment to be conducted, she stated.

On 6 September 2023, the accused was released from prison by police. He voluntarily informed police to take him to Takaunove to get the passports, as he then remembered, where he put them. When they arrived at Takaunove, the defendant gave the police a worn-out pillowcase and concealed inside was a maroon covered passport belonging to Wenchao Lin and $5,300.

On 8 September 2023, the police handed over the passport and money to the owner of the restaurant. Meanwhile, on his record of interview a few days later, he admitted to the offences and accepted the summary of facts except for the amount of money returned to the owner of the restaurant.

The accused stated that he returned $8,000 to the police officer and that he counted the money before handing it over to the police officer. He claimed that prior to the offending, he was driven by an urgent need of money and the reason he committed the offence was to satisfy his needs, and needed money to buy drugs and alcohol for him and his peers. He expressed some remorse for his offending and stated that he felt guilty for what he did and asked the court for mercy and leniency.

Previous convictions

The court heard he had previous convictions related to illegal drugs and was serving a three-month sentence from the Magistrate's Court and other pending cases with the Magistrate's Court. The earliest conviction on record in 2015 was for disturbance to a range of drug related offences, theft and bodily harm. His most recent conviction was in the Magistrate's Court for possession of illicit drugs on 5 April 2024.

In 2020, he entered as a military officer in His Majesty's Armed Forces for three years of military affidavit service as a private military officer. On 24 August 2023, he was punished by a Defence Force Judge and dismissed from the force with disgrace. His dismissal was due to his failure to report to work in December 2022 and after the military were notified of his sentencing at Magistrate's Court, he was dismissed before the end of his affidavit years of service, the Acting judge heard.

Use of axe

Meanwhile, the Crown submitted the aggravating factors in this case: the serious nature of the offending, particularly the use of an axe, the scratch to the complainant's arm because of the armed robbery which had left a permanent scar on her arm, his taking of $20,000 from the complainant and two passports, of which only $5,300 and both passports were returned (although this was disputed by the accused in the pre-sentence report, to be $8,000). The Crown submitted that $5,300 was correct, because this was part of the facts the accused pleaded guilty to when arraigned on 10 April 2024.

Other aggravating factors were the accused's use of the same axe to ward off Viliami Holeva, who was a customer, waiting for his order at the complainant's restaurant, at the time of the offending, in order to carry out the armed robbery. There was also the fear instilled in the complainant after the incident, a foreign national living and undertaking business in Tonga, and the motivation of the offending was to get quick cash to purchase drugs and alcohol for himself and his friends, as in his Pre-sentence report, submitted the Crown.

The Acting Judge sentenced the accused to seven and a half years imprisonment and suspended the final two and a half years, on conditions. That means he is required to serve five years imprisonment, backdated to when he was first taken into custody, on 4 April 2024.