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R v Taukai [2024] SBHC 153; HCSI-CRC 129 of 2024 (11 November 2024)

HIGH COURT OF SOLOMON ISLANDS

IN THE HIGH COURT OF SOLOMON ISLANDS
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

Criminal Case No. 129 of 2024

REX

V

DAVID TAUKAI

Date of Hearing: 7 November 2024
Date of Sentence: 11 November 2024

Counsel

Mr N Tonowane for the Crown
Mr T Fiuga for the Accused

SENTENCE

Background

1. David Taukai you have pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted murder. The charge is laid pursuant to section 215(a) of the Penal Code. The maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment. You now appear for sentence.
2. You are currently twenty years old. You are one of five children of the victim of your offending. On 27 May 2023 between 8.00pm and 10.00pm you were in Cookson Village at Wagina Island in Choiseul Province. You followed your mother around asking her for betel nut. She did not give you any. She went to her market stall. While there she found a betel nut fruit in her pocket. She took it out and bit the outer husk. You took a bush knife and swung it at her neck. You swung it again and struck her on the arm she used to block your blow. She fell to the ground and tried to escape. You cut her again on her leg. Fortunately your brother and another person heard the noise and came and chased you away. They removed the bush knife from you.
3. Your mother was transported to the local clinic then to the hospital at Gizo. She was in a critical condition because of the loss of blood and the injuries you had inflicted on her. Her right forearm had a deep laceration and the ulna bone in her left forearm was fractured. Her right leg had two open lacerations and the tibia was fractured. You had cut her left leg amputating both her big toe and the toe next to it. She required surgery and was transfused with four units of blood. Once she returned to Wagina she could not walk. She was in hospital from the end of May 2023 until mid-September 2023.
4. You are described as having a history of psychosis and an admission history with the National Psychiatric unit. You currently present as suffering from insomnia, blocking thoughts, being restless and suffering from chest pain and shortness of breath. You have been medicated for your conditions. That medication varies depending on how you present.
5. The report on your mental state records that you are well dressed but look distracted. When communicating you cover your eyes with your hands but otherwise movements are normal. Your speech is described as normal and you respond well during conversation. Regarding your mood/affect you are said to be smiling but stating that you are worried about family members at home, especially your mother. You described blocking your thoughts and not sleeping properly. You do not have hallucinations or delusions. There are no false perceptions nor auditory hallucinations. You are able to concentrate and have a stable memory. However you have psychotic relapses and will need to continue to be medicated with anti-psychotic drugs when the assessment requires it.
6. I am told that your mental condition has affected your education which was limited to reaching form 2. You have not been employed but work at farming and fishing.

Aggravating factors

7. The prosecutor has identified several aggravating facts which include, the breach of trust of a son towards his mother, the nature of the weapon you used, the sustained nature of the attack and the serious and permanent injuries inflicted on your mother. As noted in paragraph 3, your mother required hospitalization from May 2023 to mid-September 2023. The prosecutor asks me to take into account that the attack happened at night.

Mitigating factors

8. I record that your guilty plea has saved your mother and other members of your family reliving the horror of your attack and shows remorse and an acceptance of what happened together with its consequences. You have not previously been convicted. You are still a young man and were only 19 at the time of your offending. The Crown has also asked me to consider the delay between when you were committed to the High Court and when the information was laid. In addition there appears to have been a breakdown in communication resulting in the Court sitting in Gizo without your case being called. Most significantly you suffer from the mental health conditions outlined above.

Starting point

9. In Regina v Bela [2004] SBHC 36, Kabui J as he then was, considered the starting point and followed the guidance given in R v O’ofania, Criminal case no 14 of 1975 when a range of 5 - 7 years imprisonment for cases of attempted murder following an attack of a husband on a wife. The Court of Appeal in Malefo v Regina [2013] SBCA 7 at paragraph [16] said:
   • “We consider that, on that basis, the starting point for attempted murder should be the upper level of the 5 – 7 years suggested in O’ofania. Mitigating factors may reduce and aggravating factors increase that sentence in the usual way but with the caveat that the gravity of the intention to kill means that matters personal to the convicted person should have little value in mitigation and will only be of assistance in exceptional circumstances. Examples may be where, the attempt to kill having failed, the attacker shows true remorse by assisting his erstwhile victim and where he pleads guilty which avoids the need for his victim to repeat the experience in evidence. On the other hand, aggravating features are likely to increase the appropriate penalty substantially.”
10. I therefore take a starting point of 7 years imprisonment. For the sustained nature of the attack and the nature of the injuries inflicted there must be an increase to that starting point. For the breach of trust, inflicting the injuries on your mother, I consider there needs to be a further increase. The aggravating factors increase the starting point to eight years’ imprisonment. For your guilty plea, your youth and the delay in being able to enter your plea and the remaining mitigating factors except your mental health I reduce the sentence to five years and six months imprisonment.
11. Although in Malefo the Court of Appeal said that personal circumstances should have little value in mitigation and will only be of assistance in exceptional circumstances, I consider that your mental health is relevant in assessing the criminality of your intention. There is a conflict between the acknowledgements that your conduct was likely to have been brought about as a consequence of your mental health issues and the need to protect your family and your community from you. I note that while you have been in custody you have been able to have your condition monitored and appropriately medicated. However when it is time for you will to be released, that must be in circumstances that reduce the risks to those around you. I allow a reduction of a further 12 months to take into account your mental health issues. That leaves a final sentence of four years and six months to commence from the date you were taken into custody.
12. When it comes to time for your release the authorities may well consider that conditions will need to be put in place to ensure that you continue to receive the oversight and medication you require and to protect those around you.

Orders

1. The Accused is convicted and sentenced to four years and six months imprisonment commencing from the date he was taken into custody.
2. I direct those who have responsibility for the Accused’s welfare to take such steps as may best ensure he receives the medication and oversight he requires.
3. I direct that on his release the authorities place such conditions as may best ensure the safety of the Accused, his family and his community.

By the Court
Hon. Justice Howard Lawry
Puisne Judge