By Linny Folau

Sosaia Vatikani (40) was jailed for serious housebreaking and theft of property including electrical goods, worth $15,200 pa’anga, from the Nursing School at Vaiola Hospital, in Nuku'alofa.

From the Prosecution’s Summary of Facts, the accused, who lived in Longoteme, committed the offences on 3 April 2024. At around 7:00am, a cleaner at Vaiola Hospital informed the Principal, Mele Tilema Cama, that the Nursing School room door was open.

Mele discovered several items were missing and reported the theft to the Central Police Station. She stated that an unknown person had used a blue crowbar to force open the south side door of the Nursing School and had stolen items.  The items were a black 65-inch flat screen valued at $7,000, a black 40-inch flat screen valued at $3,000, a LG 24-inch TV valued at $2,000, a small white fridge valued at $700, and a black Yamaha sound system containing two speakers, monitors, wires, and a mixer valued at $2,500, totalling $15,200.

Police lifted fingerprints from the crime scene which were subsequently matched to the accused. They went to the defendant’s residence in Longoteme, where he was arrested for housebreaking and theft.

The Police subsequently recorded an interview of the accused. He stated that on the night of the incident, he was driving around town and he stopped by at Vaiola Hospital to fill a bottle of water to mix with his alcohol. He needed a speaker, so he entered the Nursing School, took the speaker, and other items. He admitted that he did not have permission to enter the building.

The accused had prior convictions, stated the Prosecution.

Meanwhile, on 1 November Lord Chief Justice Bishop sentenced him at the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa, after he pleaded guilty earlier in September.

He stated that this was a case of housebreaking into a nurses' facility, which resulted in the theft of property worth $15,200.

“What is particularly aggravating about this case is that the school facility in question is related to your wife's employment as a nurse and therefore must have caused her considerable embarrassment and distress.”

He said the starting point for these types of offences, is three to five years.

“In your case, because of your guilty plea, I reduce your starting point, which I fix at three years, by 12 months, which makes a total of two years imprisonment. In addition, I have to consider the question of whether or not to suspend whole or part of the sentence. In your case it does not apply because you are not young, you have previous convictions and, in my view, have very little prospects to benefit from rehabilitation should I take that course,” stated the Lord Chief Justice.

He dealt with the the defendant's breach of a suspended sentence, but bore in mind that he had almost completed that sentence, with three weeks or so left before he would have completed that suspension period for the previous offence.

“I order that the suspended sentence be activated, which is a period of three months to be served consecutively to the 2 years remaining for this current matter.”

The defendant was then sentenced to serve a total of two years imprisonment for both counts, with the further three months because he breached his previous suspended sentence in case, CR 200 of 2023. He is now serving a total of two years and three months imprisonment in Hu'atolitoli Prison.