SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
Police v Sanele [2014] WSSC 34

Case name: Police v Sanele
Citation: [2014] WSSC 34
Decision date: 23 June 2014
Parties: Police and Mikaele Sanele
Hearing date(s): 
File number(s): S2588/13
Jurisdiction: Criminal
Place of delivery: Mulinuu
Judge(s): Justice Vaai
On appeal from:
Order: (Sentence)
Representation: 
F Lagaaia for prosecution
Unrepresented
Catchwords: 
Words and phrases:
Legislation cited:
Cases cited:
Summary of decision:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
HELD AT MULINUU

BETWEEN:
P  O  L  I  C  E
Prosecution
A  N  D:
MIKAELE SANELE male of Samalaeulu Savaii and Faleapuna
Defendant
Counsel:	F Lagaaia for prosecution
Unrepresented
Sentence:	23 June 2014

S  E  N  T  E  N  C  E
1.	Defendant you appear for sentence on 11 counts of theft as a servant and 10 counts of false pretence.  
2.	At the time of your offending you were employed by Vailima Distributors at Togafuafua, your responsibility was to deliver the beers and soft drinks around town area.  
3.	Your responsibility was to collect payments for the goods, you also issued receipts for the cash you received.  If goods were purchased on credit you issued an invoice to account for that purchase.  Payments for goods purchased on credit were also receipted when you received the cash on your subsequent visits.
4.	On 11 different occasions between May and August 2013 you received payments totaling $1936.00 from the complainant’s customer and issued receipts.  But before returning the cash to the complainant upon returning to base you withheld some of the cash for your personal use and you altered the amounts entered on the receipt retained in the receipt book to cover for the monies you stole.
5.	Your offending was discovered when the complainant demanded payments from the customers from whom you received the monies which you embezzled.
6.	For your offending of a theft as a servant the prosecution is seek imprisonment sentence of 2 ½ years imprisonment and for false pretence a 2 years starting point custodial sentence is sought.  
7.	The aggravating feature of your offending is that it was premeditated and there was an obvious breach of trust.  For four months you engaged yourself in altering the receipts to cover the theft of monies that you stole.  
8.	The purpose of the sentence to be imposed is to deter yourself and other like-minded employees and members of the public.  It has been brought to the notice of the Court that the basic reasons for most of the stealing is pressure from the families and from the churches.  Family demands and in particular excessive demands by the churches especially the streamline ones is not an excuse which the Court will take in mitigation for defendants to steal. 
9.	The prosecution has referred me to a number of cases in the past for which custodial sentence has been imposed for similar offences.  The prevalence of this type of offending within society is an aggravating factor which the Court must consider.  In determining the proper sentence I must also consider the mitigating factors which have been raised on your behalf.  
10.	I note from the summary of facts and the probation report that the amount stolen in this matter is relatively small compare to the other thefts which have come before the Court.  The method that you employed to steal the monies was relatively unsophisticated.  In fact you ought to have known at the time of the commission of these offences that you will be caught; in fact it was quite easy for your employer to discover the theft.  
11.	I also take into favor in considering the proper sentence the plea that has been placed before the Court from the complainant in this matter.  You have apologised to the complainant and you have paid back in full the monies that you stole.  You have also been re-employed not by the same complainant but by the sister of the complainant’s manager which is doing the same field of work, the same field of work from which you stole the money which tells the Court that there has been some faith placed in you and that you have shown genuine remorse to the Court.  
12.	In the circumstances I am convinced that a custodial sentence should not be imposed.  For all these offences you are convicted and placed on Probation for a period of 18 months.  You will also perform 50 hours of community service.  You will pay the cost of prosecution of $500 tala, those costs are to be paid within 3 months.  

JUSTICE VAAI