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State v Shaw [2012] FJHC 35; HAC001.2009 (24 January 2012)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF FIJI
AT LAUTOKA
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL CASE NO.: HAC 001 OF 2009

BETWEEN:

STATE

AND:

1. TRACY B. SHAW
[1st Accused]

2. VARASIKO TUWAI
[2nd Accused]

Date of Hearing : 16th January – 20th January, 23rd January, 2012.
Date of Summing Up : 23rd January, 2012.
Date of Judgment : 23rd Jannuary,2012
Date of Sentence : 24th January, 2012.

Mr F. Lacanivalu(with Mr T. Qalinauci) for the State
Mr T. Terere (LAC) for the first accused
Mr A. J. Singh (LAC) for the second accused

SENTENCE

[1] You have both been found guilty of the offence of murder in the judgment of this Court.

[2] The very unsavoury facts of the case were, and obviously facts which the Assessors have accepted, that in December 2008 a young taxi driver from Cuvu was found dead in a river bed with multiple head injuries. Suspicion fell on you Tracy when you used the deceased's phone the next day to make personal calls. A search of the house where you were staying revealed the phone, and sunglasses and a car stereo all belonging to the deceased.

[3] You co-operated with the Police and both of you gave interviews under caution in which you each admitted your role in this homicide.

[4] You both told the police of the relentless punches and kicks you gave to the driver at his head and face, after tying his hands with black tape. You then dragged him back into the back seat of the car and with you Varasiko driving you took the unconscious victim to the Ciri Road near Semo village. The victim revived somewhat pleading for his life but at Ciri Road you pushed him out of the car onto the gravel saying you hoped he would die. You both went back to the scene later that night to check that he was dead. You admitted Tracy that your purpose in going out that night was to kill Nasir and you later told Police that you had wanted to kill him for three months after he had let you down following a short romantic affair.

[5] You Varasiko also told the Police that you had both agreed to kill Nasir that night, on the urging of Tracy and that you had discussed it during the day. You gave details of how you dumped Nasir's unconscious body out of the taxi on the Ciri Road.

Analysis

[6] The actions you both took that night were appalling. To appease Tracy's resentment at the prior bad treatment by Nasir, she decided to kill him and persuaded you Varasiko to join her in this horrendous business. Neither of you showed him any mercy, even when he was pleading for help. You planned the killing in advance (and Tracy three months in advance) and you even returned to the scene to put an end to him if he was not already dead.

[7] The law mandates that a term of life imprisonment be handed down against each of you and that is indeed the sentence I pass.

[8] I do have some discretion in fixing a minimum term for each of you to serve.

[9] Mr Terere for the first accused submits that she is a first offender and the mother of four children and therefore I should treat her with leniency. Whilst the Court has sympathy for young children being deprived of a mother, the nature of the first accused's intentions and deeds thwarts any such sympathy. Out of a three month harboured grudge against the deceased, she planned this murder and persuaded her then de facto husband to join her in the enterprise laying in wait for the victim and directing him to a deserted spot where they both carried out this cruel, relentless and unnecessary murder. They showed no mercy to their victim.

[10] Tracy Shaw, you will serve a minimum term before being eligible for parole of eighteen years imprisonment.

[11] Mr Singh tells me that you Varasiko do not have an independent mind, that you are unsecure and not a leader. He submits that you are deserving of leniency and mercy.

[12] However not having an independent mind does not prevent you from knowing right from wrong. You were totally in the thrall of Tracy's perverse wishes and you carried out this gruesome deed on her directions.

[13] Although you were not the master-mind behind this, you cannot escape the odium of the offence. Varasiko you will serve a minimum term of fifteen years imprisonment.

[14] The two accused are both at large.

[15] These sentences will run from the day each accused is apprehended.

P.K. Madigan
JUDGE
At Lautoka
24th January, 2012.