The State v Scott Lalio (2006) N2967

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Date: 27 January 2006
• Citation: (2006) N2967
• Docket Number: CR No 1606 of 2005
• Court: National Court
• Year: 2006

Full Title: CR No 1606 of 2005; The State v Scott Lalio (2006) N2967

National Court: Cannings J

Judgment Delivered: 27 January 2006

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SENTENCE

Criminal law—indictable offence—Criminal Code, Subdivision VI.2B, offences relating to property and contracts, injuries to property, offences—s437, attempts to commit arson—sentence on plea of guilty.

A young man pleaded guilty to one count of attempted arson. He attempted to set fire to the Madang Policewomen's Barracks. He acted alone. No major damage was done. He was drunk at the time. The maximum penalty for this sort of offence is 14 years.

Held:

(1) In the absence of Supreme Court sentencing guidelines the starting point for sentencing for attempted arson is in the middle of the available range: seven years.

(2) Strong mitigating factors identified were that: the offender did very little damage; the occupants were not directly affected; he acted alone; the offence was not planned; he pleaded guilty; he expressed remorse.

(3) A strong aggravating factor was that he put lives at risk.

(4) The head sentence is three years imprisonment.

(5) A pre–sentence report from the Madang office of the Community Correction and Rehabilitation Service recommended a non–custodial sentence. But it is not appropriate in the circumstances of this case to consider immediate suspension of the entire sentence.

(6) The court, however, qualified the prison sentence by ordering that it can be suspended after the prisoner has served a minimum term of imprisonment of one year if the National Court approves a post–release parole period with strict conditions attached.

Manu Kovi v The State (2005) SC789, The State v Andrew Yeskulu [2003] PNGLR 27, The State v Bart Kiohin Mais and Henry Kevi (2005) N2811, The State v Enni Matthew and Others (No 2) (2003) N2563, The State v Henny Wamahau Ilomo [2003] PNGLR 41, The State v Prodie Akoi (2004) N2584, The State v Robin Warren and Others (No 2) (2003) N2418 referred to

Abbreviations

The following abbreviations appear in the judgment:

BES—break, enter and steal

CJ—Chief Justice

CODE—College of Distance Education

DCJ—Deputy Chief Justice

eg—for example

J—Justice

LLG—Local–level Government

N—National Court judgments

OK—okay; all right

PSR—pre–sentence report

SC—Supreme Court judgments

WNB—West New Britain

PLEA

The accused pleaded guilty to attempted arson and the following reasons for sentence were given.

CANNINGS J:

INTRODUCTION

This is a decision on the sentence for a young man who pleaded guilty to the offence of attempted arson.

BACKGROUND

Incident

The incident giving rise to the charge took place at Madang town in 2005.

Indictment

On 14 December 2005 the accused was brought before the National Court and faced the following indictment:

Scott Lalio of Apugi, Kandrian, West New Britain Province is charged that he on the 8th day of March 2005 at Madang … attempted to unlawfully set fire to the Madang Policewomen's Barracks.

The indictment was presented under s437(a) (attempts to commit arson) of the Criminal Code.

FACTS

Allegations

The following allegations were put to the accused for the purpose of obtaining a plea.

At 4.30 am on 8 March 2005 the accused entered the premises of the Policewomen's Barracks in Newtown, Madang town, by removing timber from the fence surrounding the Barracks. He then ripped off the flywire around the dining area and set fire to a curtain. That caused a cushioned chair to catch fire. Some policewomen woke up, put out the fire, saw the accused and gave chase. He escaped before being apprehended early the next day.

Conviction

The accused pleaded guilty to those facts. I entered a provisional plea of guilty and then, after reading the District Court depositions, confirmed the plea and convicted him. He is now referred to as the prisoner.

ANTECEDENTS

Mr Ruari for the State notified the court that the prisoner has no prior convictions, in the sense that when he committed the current offence he had not been previously convicted. However, he has three subsequent convictions. In June 2005 he was convicted and sentenced in the District Court as follows:

· possession of an offensive weapon—three months imprisonment;

· possession of live ammunition—nine months imprisonment;

· possession of dangerous drugs—six months imprisonment.

These sentences, totalling 18 months imprisonment, are all cumulative. He is currently serving them at Beon Gaol.

ALLOCUTUS

I administered the allocutus, ie the prisoner was given...