The State v Angela Tokonai (2012) N4679

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Date: 17 May 2012
• Citation: (2012) N4679
• Docket Number: CR NO 1027 of 2010
• Court: National Court
• Year: 2012

Full Title: CR NO 1027 of 2010; The State v Angela Tokonai (2012) N4679

National Court: Cannings J

Judgment Delivered: 17 May 2012

CRIMINAL LAW—sentence— s404(1) (obtaining goods or credit by false pretence or wilfully false promise)—sentence on plea of guilty—sea cucumber worth K15,865.50 obtained with dud cheque—sentence of 3 years.

The offender falsely pretended to a man that she had sufficient funds in her bank account and drew a cheque for K15,865.50 to pay him for sea cucumber. Three days later the victim presented the cheque but it was dishonoured, and the offender failed to make good the debt. The offender pleaded guilty to the offence of obtaining goods by false pretence. This is the judgment on sentence.

Held:

(1) The maximum sentence under s404(1) is five years and a useful starting point for sentencing is the middle of the range: two and a half years imprisonment.

(1) Mitigating factors are: pleaded guilty; only a moderate degree of criminal intent; genuine preparedness to repay money; victim willing to be repaid by instalments.

(2) Aggravating factor: substantial amount of money involved.

(3) A sentence of three years was imposed, fully suspended subject to conditions including repayment of the value of the goods by instalments, as agreed to by the victim.

Cases cited

The following cases are cited in the judgment:

Saperus Yalibakut v The State (2006) SC890; The State v Dominic Kurai (2008) N3435

SENTENCE

This was a judgment on sentence for obtaining goods by false pretence.

1. CANNINGS J: Angela Tokonai pleaded guilty to one count of obtaining goods by false pretence contrary to s404(1)(a) of the Criminal Code. She admitted entering into a verbal agreement at Madang with the victim, “JK”, to purchase from him 132.5 kg of sea cucumber for a price of K15,865.50. She wrote out a cheque for that amount drawn against her account at BSP Madang, knowing that the account had been closed a few months earlier and had no money in it. She told the victim not to present the cheque immediately but to hold on to it and the next day she would give him that amount in cash. The next day came and JK could not find the offender, and it turned out that she had gone to Lae. He waited two more days without receiving any cash from the offender and presented the cheque at the bank but it was dishonoured. He then tried to recover the sea cucumber from the offender but could not get it back so he reported the matter to the police. The offender is now before the court to be sentenced.

ANTECEDENTS

2. The offender has no prior convictions.

ALLOCUTUS

3. The offender was given the opportunity to say what matters the court should take into account when deciding on punishment. She said:

I thank the court for the time that has had to be spent on my case. I wish to make it clear that what I have been convicted of is not...