Kalolaine Fainga’a, 30, was sentenced to two years in prison for aggravated burglary and theft of electrical equipment worth around $12,095 pa’anga.
Her co-defendant, Kisione To’aho, 34, who was convicted of receiving stolen goods on a small scale, received a suspended sentence.
Lord Chief Justice Whitten quality control sentenced her in the Nuku’alofa High Court on August 1. This comes after they changed their guilty pleas on all charges at the start of their trial on June 23.
The court heard that the crime took place around 9 p.m. on 8 June 2021, when the applicant Tahirih Hokafonu was returning home with her family from a funeral and noticed that one of the doors to her house was left open.
The next day, she discovered that a MacBook Pro laptop, iPad, 2TB external drive, projector and accessories, dual 32GB drive, and other accessories were missing. The total value was $12,095 pa’anga.
She lodged a complaint with the police and on 16 June 2021 the applicant managed to track her laptop via Geographic Positioning System and told police his last known whereabouts were at a house in Tokomololo.
The Lord Chief Justice said when police visited this residence they found Kisione’s wife using the complainant’s iPad.
Then they went to his computer workshop on Fatafehi Road. He told police that Kalolaine approached him for lack of money and sold him the items.
All items were seized and returned to the complainant.
Kalolaine has previous convictions, including drug offenses and prison terms for burglary and theft, which were handed down in 2021.
Meanwhile, Kisione told the parole officer that Kalolaine went to his home and offered to sell him the goods for $800.
Kisione told Kalolaine that he only had $300, which she accepted. He told the parole officer that he regretted buying the goods and had “learned his lesson” never to accept goods from someone he didn’t know.
Kisione’s wife and the applicant are third cousins.
The Lord Chief Justice then gave Kalolaine a conditional sentence of two years imprisonment, with the last eight months suspended for two years.
received stolen goods
Kisione, who was found guilty of stealing property, was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
“He has expressed remorse. He also voluntarilytto the probation officer (not mentioned in the prosecution’s submissions) that He was convicted of joint assault in 2008 while he was at school. The officer said Kisione is unlikely to reoffend.
“The proofIAn officer recommended a fully suspended SEnconditions, incl. commandnity work“, says the verdict.
His sentence was suspended for two years, subject to conditions.
“Failure to comply with any of the above conditions may result in the suspension being lifted and the offending defendant serving the uncompleted portion of his sentence.”
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