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Republic v Tauoo [2005] KIHC 67; 02-05 (18 May 2005)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KIRIBATI
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
HELD AT KIRITIMATI
REPUBLIC OF KIRIBATI

High Court Criminal Case No. 2 of 2005

THE REPUBLIC

vs

MOAUEA TAUOO

For the Republic: Ms Pauline Beiatau
For the Accused: Ms Jennifer Troup

Date of Hearing: 16 May 2005

SENTENCE

Moauea Tauoo: you were charged with murder. When you were asked to plead at the beginning of the trial you pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. The prosecution accepted your plea.

That you have admitted manslaughter will mean a shorter sentence of imprisonment than if you had pleaded not guilty.

You have many previous convictions but none since 1982 and none of the offences was serious. You were given small fines for all of them. They are so old and so minor that I shall disregard them in sentencing.

The whole thing is a tragedy. You killed your daughter, aged 25 or 26. She was unmarried, had always lived with you but at this time she was staying with her sister at another village. You heard that she had been drinking. Ms Beiatau told me she was drinking sour toddy with four men. You had before beaten her for getting drunk. She had promised not to drink again. Yet she had. It was 9 o’clock in the morning. You went after her. She was not drinking then but she was drunk. You became very angry. You grabbed her round the neck. She tried to apologize. Others tried to separate you. You held on to her. Somehow while you were holding your daughter round her neck, the neck was broken. She died but you did not know that. At other times she had pretended to be dead when you beat her. You thought she was pretending again this time. You kicked her and hit her with a small stone.

Taking the most favourable view of the facts for you, I assume that when the neck was broken you were not intending to do her harm but resisting being pulled away from her. By your resistance somehow the neck came to be broken. You had not meant to kill your daughter but to teach her a lesson for drinking again. You did not realize that you had killed her.

You left her there and went to the clinic. Your pregnant wife was at the clinic. After a time you suggested to the nurse that she check on your daughter. The nurse found her and in the medical report says she had by then been dead for one to two hours. Although the report says the death might have been caused by a blunt instrument, Ms Beiatau said the nurse’s opinion now is that something in the victim’s neck snapped.

You are 57 years old. Your home island is Maiana but you have lived on Tabuaeran since 1995. You had six children by your first wife who died. You have one young child by your second wife. You were living a subsistence lifestyle. Ms Troup told me you deeply regret what happened. She said you still have a good relationship with your family.

It was a very serious thing. Beating one’s children to make them behave is accepted in Kiribati society and you had good reason to be angry with your daughter. Yet a person who acts as you did takes the risk of something going wrong. If something does go wrong the person responsible will be punished.

You were in custody from 21 September to 4 February – a little over four months. I shall allow for that in fixing the term of imprisonment. You will be imprisoned for four years and two months from last Monday, 16 May, when you were returned to custody.

Dated the 18^th day of May 2005

THE HON ROBIN MILLHOUSE QC
Chief Justice