[1979] KILR 34

HIGH COURT OF THE GILBERT ISLANDS

Criminal Appeal No 10 of 1979

MOANIBA BOHAI

v

REGINAM

(O'BRIEN QUINN C.J.)

Betio: 22nd February 1979

Criminal appeal - appeal against sentence - unlawful wounding - assault occasioning actual bodily harm - previous convictions - review of past decisions on sentences for violence -sentences lenient - appeal dismissed sentences and Residence order confirmed.

This appeal is reported on the question of the nature and severity of sentences which have been and ought to be passed by the Courts for crimes of violence.

HELD: That the sentences passed of one year on each count were rather lenient and the appeal against the sentences and the Residence Order would be dismissed.

Authorities referred to:-

R v Buraina Momoia 1977 G.I.L.R. 138
R v Kauma Tebutoa 1977 G.I.L.R. 138
R v Tebita Toantau 1977 G.I.L.R. 139

O'BRIEN QUINN C.J.:-

In this appeal the appellant has lodged an appeal against sentence in two cases which were tried on 5th and 8th February 1979 respectively. As both offences involved violence and were otherwise similar I shall deal with both appeals together.

2. In the first case, the sentence in which is appealed against, the appellant pleaded guilty to the unlawful wounding of Taitai Karibaua on 25th January 1979 by stabbing him with a knife, unprovoked, and, in the process, cutting off two of Taitai's fingers. This was clearly an offence against section 223 of the Penal Code (Cap 8) which carries a maximum sentence of 5 years' imprisonment. The appellant had five previous convictions mainly for drunkenness, assault and resisting arrest. He was 23 years of age and was drunk at the time. The Magistrates' Court sentenced the appellant to one years' imprisonment and ordered that the appellant return to him home Island, Marakei, after his sentence had been served.

3. In the second case, the sentence in which is appealed against, the appellant pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman by the name of Nei Taitai and thereby causing her actual bodily harm on 25th November 1978. Nei Taitai was hit with a blunt instrument and suffered two lacerations of the scalp, one 3 inches long and the other 2 inches long, both of which required to be sutured. This was clearly an offence against section 238 of the Penal Code (Cap 8) which carries a maximum punishment of five years' imprisonment. I would, in passing, remark, that the appellant could well have been charged in this case under section 220 of Cap 8 'Grievous harm' but then the matter would have has to be tried by the High Court. In this case the appellant, while drunk, again made an unprovoked attack on his victim causing her serious injuries. The Magistrates sentenced the appellant, in this case, to one year's imprisonment also and ordered his repatriation to Marakei.

4. I have given the sentences passed in both these cases much consideration and I have taken pains to look at judgments given in the past by the High Court of the Western Pacific in cases of unlawful wounding as such cases have been prevalent in the past and are still prevalent today. In High Court Criminal Case No. 14 of 1966 R v Buraina Momoia, Barwick J. gave a man of 62 years 18 months' imprisonment on two counts of unlawful wounding. In High Court Criminal Case No 16 of 1966, R v Kauma Tebutoa, Barwick J. passed a sentence of 3 years' imprisonment on a man of 30 years of age even though the accused had received some provocation. In High Court Criminal Case No 9 of 1967, R v Tebita Toantau, Bodilly C.J. passed a sentence of 12 months' imprisonment on a man of 47 years who had a previous good record and was an Island Policeman, for stabbing another man in the upper left arm and giving him a 3 inch long wound behind the left ear.

5. From the sentences passed in these cases, chosen at random, it would seem that the sentences passed on the appellant in this appeal are rather lenient. Accordingly, I can see no reason to reduce these sentences and I dismiss the appeal against both sentences. Had I been trying the case I would have given higher sentences.

6. I therefore confirm that the sentences of one year in each case are to run consecutively to one another and consecutively to all sentences which the appellant was serving on 5th February 1979. I also confirm that the appellant is to be repatriated to Marakei, his home Island, and to remain there for a period of one year, in accordance with section 37 of the Penal Code (Cap 8), on the expiry of his last sentences of one year i.e. that passed on 8th February 1979.