IN THE HIGH COURT OF FIJI
AT SUVA
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

Criminal Case No: HAC0034 of 2004S

STATE

v.

SAKIUSA BASA

Hearing: 28th February 2005
Sentence: 9th March 2005

Counsel: Ms K. Bavou for State
Mr. A. Vakaloloma for Accused

SENTENCE

Sakiusa Basa, you have been convicted on your pleas of guilty to one count of armed robbery and one count of unlawful use of motor vehicle. The facts which you have agreed to are that, on the 30th of August 2003, you with four others, were involved in the robbery of the Western Union Money Transfer Office in Suva. The others were armed with cane knives and iron rods. You acted as the watchman and getaway driver in a stolen vehicle belonging to one Tupou Wata. Your accomplices smashed the glass doors of the Western Union, one of them assaulted a security guard, and they stole two tills containing F$32,672.84 and AUD$10.00. You received $4000 as your proceeds of the crime. You made a full admission to the police.

The tariff for robbery with violence is 4 to 7 years, but a higher starting point is justified in a case of armed robbery. In this case, given the magnitude of the robbery, I choose 8 years imprisonment as my starting point.

Aggravating factors are the planning and premeditation, the fear experienced by all the employees at the Western Union, the fact that your accomplices used weapons, the large sum of money taken and the fact that you expected to benefit from the robbery. I increase the sentence to 10 years imprisonment.

In your favour is your age (25 years), your plea of guilty (although it was not an early plea), your one year in remand and your sincere attempts to run a cassava business. I take into account all that has been urged most competently by your counsel including the fact that you did not enter the premises robbed but were the getaway driver. To reflect these mitigating factors I reduce the sentence to 6 years imprisonment on Count 1.

The charge on Count 2 is a more serious one than is normally before the courts, because the owner of the vehicle was physically removed from the driver’s seat, in order for you to gain control of it. On Count 2, I sentence you to 6 months imprisonment, the maximum possible. It is to be served concurrently with the sentence on Count 1.

I am informed by counsel that you are currently serving a 4 year term of imprisonment for an offence of robbery with violence, imposed on you in the Suva Magistrates’ Court. In order to determine whether a concurrent sentence is appropriate, I asked the State to provide me with particulars. The charge relates to an incident on the 9th of January 2005 and you were convicted of robbing one James Wright of a bunch of keys using the threat of violence. You received a 4 year term on the 18th of February 2005.

The combination of the sentences in both cases would result in a total term of 10 years imprisonment. I consider that this sentence would exceed the totality of the offending, particularly because in neither case did you personally use any violence.

I therefore order that the term of 6 years imprisonment imposed today, is to be served concurrent to the 4 year term you are presently serving.

Nazhat Shameem
JUDGE

At Suva
9th March 2005