By breaking into schools, you are attacking children.
These were the words of High Court Judge Justice Salesi Temo while delivering his guilty verdict for Luke Seniceva and Viliame Motokainava who broke into Tamavua Primary School and stole $9,178 worth of items and cash on the 4th of July, 2016.
Both men are found guilty of a count each of aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery.
All three assessors in the case had found the men not guilty of their charges.
While delivering his judgement, Justice Temo said that he wants to teach a lesson to all the people who are thinking of breaking into another person’s house.
He said he is not proud of the fact that a lot of iTaukei people are committing such offences and they need to be taught a lesson.
He said that if you go easy on iTaukei people, they will still break into people’s homes.
He says he wants to teach these young men to apply into universities or acquire skills and lead better lives.
He made these comments following the State’s submission that the two men be sentenced between the tariffs of 18 months to 3 years imprisonment.
Justice Temo then told State Counsel Momita Chowdhury that there is a new tariff that was set by Justice Pereira in another case, and that she was representing the public.
He said that burglary is a repeated offence and that people from Suva to Nausori are building themselves a prison due to safety issues.
Justice Temo said that safety of the public is a top priority and that 18 months to 3 years as a sentence is not working.
Both men are first offenders and have spent a year and 9 months in remand.
They will be sentenced at 2.15pm today.
