3-Year Jail Term for Aggravated Robbery

A 22-year-old construction worker of Raiwasa has been sentenced to three years and nine months imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years and one month for one count of aggravated robbery.

Usaia Tikoicina appeared at the High Court in Suva before Judge Justice Vinsent Perera for his sentencing.

On June 2, 2018, at Suva, at 3am, Tikoicina with another robbed Elvin Sen, 23, of his Samsung Galaxy mobile phone valued at $300, house keys and $10 all to the total value of $310.

The court heard that Tikoicina and another robbed the complainant after he got off a taxi at Shalimar Street roundabout in Raiwasa and walked towards New World Supermarket Bakery.

On the way to the bakery, Tikoicina attacked the complainant while his accomplice robbed him and both fled the scene.

While sentencing the accused, Justice Perera said it was necessary to signify that the court and the community denounced such conduct.

“I would also bear in mind the fact that the accused is a first and young offender and therefore I should facilitate rehabilitation,” he said.

Justice Perera said the Section 4 (1) of the Sentencing and Penalties Act outlines the following as the purposes of which a sentence should be imposed:

• To punish offenders to an extend and in a manner which is just in all the circumstances;
• To protect the community from offenders;
• To deter offenders or other persons from committing offences of the same or similar nature;
• To establish conditions so that rehabilitation of offenders may be promoted or facilitated;
• To signify that the court and the community denounce the commission of such offenders; and
• Any combination of these purposes.

Justice Perera had noted that the accused was remorseful, was a young first offender, co-operated with the police and had pleaded guilty to the offence on his own free will.

Tikoicina was given 30 days to appeal against his sentence to the Fiji Court of Appeal.

Edited by Epineri Vula

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