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Police v Lefaga [2014] WSSC 20 (6 June 2014)

SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
Police v Lefaga [2014] WSSC 20

Case name: Police v Niniva aka Anzac Lefaga

Citation: [2014] WSSC 20

Decision date: 6 June 2014

Parties:
POLICE (prosecution) AND NINIVA @ ANZAC LEFAGA female of Flaelauniu and Vaitele

Hearing date(s):

File number(s): S976/14

Jurisdiction: CRIMINAL

Place of delivery: MULINUU

Judge(s): CHIEF JUSTICE PATU FALEFATU SAPOLU

On appeal from:

Order:

Representation:
G Nelson and B Faafiti-Lo Tam for prosecution
Accused in person

Catchwords:

Words and phrases:
Maximum penalty, theft as a servant, aggravating and mitigating features, sentence

Legislation cited:
Crimes Act 2013 ss.161 and 165(e)

Cases cited:

Summary of decision:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
HELD AT MULINUU

FILE NO: S976/14

BETWEEN

P O L I C E
Prosecution

A N D

NINIVA aka ANZAC LEFAGA female of Falelauniu and Vaitele.

Accused

Counsel:
G Nelson and B Faafiti-Lo Tam for prosecution
Accused in person

Sentence: 6 June 2014

S E N T E N C E

The charges

1. The accused appears for sentence on forty one charges of theft as a servant, contrary to ss.161 and 165(e) of the Crimes Act 2013, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment. To all these charges the accused pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

Circumstances of the offending

2. The accused who is 22 years old was employed as a cashier by Origin Energy (Samoa) Ltd starting from January 2013. Her duties included receiving payments from customers. The amount of each payment would normally be entered into the company’s system which will generate a receipt in triplicate copies. One copy will be given to the customer, one copy will go to what is called a “platform filler”, and one copy will be kept in the cashier’s records.
3. The payments made by the customers were usually in the amounts of $30, $40, $50, $60 and $75.30.
4. Apart from the receipts generated from the company’s system, there are also receipts which can be issued manually. Such receipts can only be issued with the approval of the company’s finance manager.
5. From 3 to 8 January 2014, the accused would make extra copies of the receipts already generated by the company’s system and issued to customers. When a new customer made a payment to the company, the accused, instead of entering the amount of the payment into the system as she should have done, would manually enter the name of the new customer onto the extra copy of a receipt with the appropriate amount which had already been issued to a previous customer. She would then re-issue that same receipt to the new customer.
6. In other words, what the accused did was when a customer made a payment, she would give the customer one of the copies of the receipts already generated by the company’s system in triplicate from. The accused would then make extra copies of the same receipts from the copies of the receipts that she kept. When a new customer made a payment, the accused would take out one of the extra copies she had prepared with the appropriate amount. She would then entered the name of the new customer onto that copy and gave it to the new customer. So in effect the accused was re-issuing the same receipt twice. She would then take the money from the new customer for herself.
7. That was done by the accused on forty one separate occasions from 3 to 8 January 2013. The total amount misappropriated by the accused in that way was $2,401.30.

The accused

8. As earlier mentioned, the accused is 22 years old. She is the eldest of her parents’ three children. She is single. She had a good level of education having graduated with a Diploma in Business from the National University of Samoa. When she completed her academic studies she was employed in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in 2012 until January 2013 when she was employed as cashier by Origin Energy (Samoa) Ltd.
9. The accused told the probation service that she has a heart condition. This is confirmed by the matai of the accused’s family in his testimonial.
10. The accused does not smoke or drink. Since her employment was terminated as a result of this matter, the accused has been staying home and attending the Bible College of her church for training people to become pastors. Evidently, she now wants to become a pastor. She is also supported by her family in this matter. Her maternal aunt told the probation service that the accused is a person of good character and a gentle and sweet child in their family. The matai of the accused’s family has also provided a written testimonial which shows the accused to be a polite, peaceful and humble person as well as a dependable member of their family.
11. The testimonial from the pastor of the accused’s church also shows the accused to be a peaceful and respectful person who is every supportive of her church. The testimonial from the principal of the Bible College the accused is attending also shows her to be a respectful person with a pleasant personality.
12. The accused is a first offender. She has repaid $600 to her former employer as shown from the pre-sentence report. She has also apologised to the manager of her former employer and her apology was accepted. She has also pleaded guilty to the charges against her at the earliest opportunity.

The aggravating and mitigating features

13. The aggravating features of this offending are: (a) breach by the accused of her employer’s trust, (b) the number of occasions on which this offending was committed within a short period of only six days, and (c) the total amount involved. There is no mitigating feature relating to the offending.
14. In relation to the accused as offender, there is no aggravating feature. But there are mitigating features. These are: (a) the relatively young age of the accused, (b) the fact that the accused is a first offender and had been a person of good character prior to the commission of these offences, (c) the fact that partial restitution of $600 has been made, (d) remorse on the part of the accused as shown from her apology to her former employer and other material before the Court, and (e) the accused’s guilty plea at the earliest opportunity. I should also mention here the accused’s heart condition.

Discussion

15. I have given careful consideration to the aggravating and mitigating features of this case and it does not fall within the worst category of cases of theft as a servant that have come before the Court. I also bear in mind the accused’s apparent prospects of and potential for rehabilitation. The conclusion I have come to is to give this accused a chance to redeem her life while her future is still in front of her. But I must warn the accused that if she appears before the Court again for this type of offending, it is unlikely that she will not get another chance to redeem herself. So it is in her interests to take this case seriously as a lesson for her not to re-offend.

The result

16. The accused is convicted and sentenced to 15 months probation on all charges.
    

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CHIEF JUSTICE

Solicitor
Attorney-General’s Office, Apia, for prosecution