A 27-year-old man who robbed $467 pa'anga from the Hot Bread Shop at Fanga was sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court today.

Pisima'ake Nisifolo appeared before Justice Shuster on February 11 and was sentenced for one count of robbery after his conviction last year.

The crime took place on February 3, 2006, when a female employee at the Hot Bread Shop was closing-up the shop and headed to their office some distance away with a bag containing $467.

While she was standing outside the office, the robber appeared with his hands up in a winding position, as if to punch the employee, she pulled back to defend herself and he ran off with the bag of money.

Nisifolo was arrested a few days later but the money was never recovered.

Denial

Mr Justice Shuster before passing sentence on the accused asked Nisifolo if he had any more to say on his behalf. Nisifolo responded by denying ever committing the crime and told the judge if he were to be sent to prison he would contact his counsel to call a retrial.

Mr Justice Shuster told him then there was nothing more to do but to sentence him to five years imprisonment with no suspended sentence because of his not guilty plea, his refusal to cooperate with the police and his continuing disagreement with the court's decision.

The judge then added an additional six months to the robber's five years sentence because he committed the robbery offence while on a suspended sentence for a previous crime.