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Police v Eneliko [2015] WSSC 263 (20 July 2015)

SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
Police v Eneliko [2015] WSSC 263

THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA

HELD AT MULINUU

BETWEEN:

P O L I C E
Prosecution

AND:

JOHN ENELIKO, male of Faleula and Alamutu Saleimoa.
Defendant

Counsel: F Laga’aia for the Prosecution

Defendant appears in person

Sentence: 20 July 2015

Sentence of Justice E M Aitken

1. John Eneliko you pleaded guilty to two charges: one of causing actual bodily harm with intent to do so, and one of being armed with a dangerous weapon, namely a stone. Now the maximum I could sentence you today would be seven years’ imprisonment. I am not going to do that but I want you to understand how serious this offending is.
2. One afternoon just after Independence Day, you were sitting with a friend in a fale when the victim of your offending, Mr Saleimoa, walked by. He was very intoxicated, he was swearing, and he had a knife in his possession which your friend noticed. Your friend told him to go away, he went away but then he came back towards you and your friend ran off at that point.
3. You told the victim to go away and he started walking away from you. At that point you made a very bad and criminal decision and that was to follow him and throw a stone at him. You had the stone; your neighbor called out to leave him alone because he was so drunk but when he turned around you threw the stone and hit him on the nose. It was a very hard throw because it fractured the bone – cracked the bone of his nose and caused a big cut. He fell to the ground, you ran off and he was taken to the hospital. You were arrested the next day and you have been in prison ever since – about seven weeks.
   4. Now what makes this offending serious is the fact that you threw the stone at his head or his face, because an attack or an assault to the head particularly can cause very serious injuries. Also the fact that you used the weapon, here the stone, to assault him. And he was what we might call vulnerable that because he was so drunk he cannot even remember what happened. Even though you were irritated and angry with him, really you should have being more caring of him rather than aggressive towards him. Finally there was some pre-meditation, in other words you pick up that stone and probably thought about where to throw it before you actually throw it.
   5. Now on the other hand, I accept that the victim had a knife and that you knew he was armed with the knife. But you knew about the knife before you chose to follow him and you should really have just walked away when he walked away. So I must ask myself, John Eneliko, whether I should impose today a sentence of imprisonment. If I did I would start at about nine months and I would give you some credit for your early plea of guilty. I would also give you significant credit for the apology and the fact that you have been forgiven by the victim. It is not very often that a victim comes to court to support someone who has assaulted him and I am grateful to the victim for being here today.
   6. You are only 19 years’ old and that is a fact that would also cause me to reduce the sentence of imprisonment a little bit as well. Finally I know you have already been in prison for the past seven weeks. You know now very well how tough that can be and what is likely to happen if you would repeat this sort of behavior. In all of those circumstances, the public has greater interest in ensuring that you change your behavior rather than further imprison you.
   7. For those reasons, on the charge of causing actual bodily harm you are convicted and sentenced now to 12 months of supervision. And that is on that condition that you are to attend an anger management (or stopping violence) programme – that could be with Samoan Victim Support Group or through Probation; and you must also observe and comply with all the directions of your probation officer.
   8. On the charge of being armed with the dangerous weapon I am going to suspend your sentence for a period of two years. What that means is that that charge is going to hang over your head for the next two years to remind you how never to repeat this behavior. If you do not commit any further offences in the next two years there will be no other punishment for that charge. But, John, if you commit another offence in the next two years you can be sentenced on that charge of possession of the dangerous weapon.

_______________________
JUSTICE E M AITKEN