The State v Asi Taba (2010) N3939

• Jurisdiction: Papua New Guinea
• Date: 12 August 2010
• Citation: (2010) N3939
• Docket Number: CR NO 1443 OF 2009
• Court: National Court
• Year: 2010

Full Title: CR NO 1443 OF 2009; The State v Asi Taba (2010) N3939

National Court: Cannings J

Judgment Delivered: 12 August 2010

SENTENCE

CRIMINAL LAW—sentence—stealing—Criminal Code, s372(1) & s372(10)—property of a value of K58,399.00 stolen—offender a company employee who joined with other employees in making and implementing a plan to steal company property.

A 34-year-old man was convicted of one count of stealing a container load of tinned fish from his employer, valued at K58,399.00. He joined with other employees in making and implementing the plan to steal the tinned fish and sell it to a third party. This is the judgment on sentence.

Held:

(1) The maximum penalty is seven years imprisonment.

(2) A useful starting point is the middle of the available range: three and a half years imprisonment.

(3) Mitigating factors are: no violence involved; the offender was not the mastermind of the plan and had a relatively small role to play in it; he obtained a relatively small amount of the proceeds of the crime; others involved have not been prosecuted; first-time offender; an element of remorse has been expressed.

(4) The aggravating factors are: he acted with others in an organised crime; the stolen property was of a substantial value.

(5) The appropriate sentence is two and a half years imprisonment. The pre-sentence period in custody was deducted and none of the sentence was suspended.

Cases cited

The following cases are cited in the judgment:

Alice Kware & Addie Uvi CA 34-35/2006, 23.03.07; Daniel Ronald Walus v The State (2007) SC882; Edmund Gima and Siune Arnold v The State (2003) SC730; Public Prosecutor v Don Hale (1998) SC564; The State v A Juvenile, “KK”, CR 188/2009, 04.03.10; The State v Asi Taba (2010) N4083; The State v Danis Langu Jack, CR 183/2009, 21.12.09; The State v Douglas Boku CR 844/2009, 18.08.09; The State v George Pelly, CR 672/2003, 04.03.10; The State v Martin Kairing Awi, CR 352/2008; The State v Philip Bola Malagau & Michael Bio Tavulo, CR 678/1998, 17.02.09; The State v Tobby Alekun (2004) N2636

SENTENCE

This was a judgment on sentence for stealing.

12 August, 2010

1. CANNINGS J: The offender, Asi Taba, is before the court to be sentenced after being convicted of one count of stealing contrary to s372(1) and (10) of the Criminal Code. The offence was committed in November 2007. He stole 1,000 cartons of tinned fish valued at K58,399.00 from his employer, RD Tuna Canners Ltd of Madang. He and a number of other employees made a plan to steal the fish from the company and share the proceeds. Documents were falsified and this enabled the fish to be packed into a container, which the offender loaded onto a truck and transported to Lae, where the fish was sold to a third party. The offender had knowledge of the plan and took part in its implementation by loading the fish onto the truck, accompanying the fish to Lae and unloading the fish. He received K2,000.00 cash from the proceeds of the sale.

Further details of the circumstances in which the offences were committed...