Court reduces sentence

THE Supreme Court has reduced the sentence of a man by two years who was jailed in July 2014 on charges of aggravated robbery, theft of a motor vehicle and resisting arrest.

Eremasi Tasova had filed an appeal where he claimed the sentencing High Court judge had not considered the time he spent in remand before imposing the 12-year sentence.

“This court is in agreement with the panel that the time the petitioner spent in remand which was equated to one year eleven months should have been deducted,” stated Chief Justice Kamal Kumar, Justice Farzana Jameel and Justice Anjala Wati in their September 26 ruling.

“The head sentence passed by the trial judge was twelve years imprisonment with ten years non-parole period.

“This court notes that whilst the panel reduced the head sentence to ten years and one month, it overlooked to re-set the non-parole period.

“This court is of the view that non-parole period be set at eight years six months.

“The petitioner (Mr Tasova) is entitled to and is granted the benefit of the period spent by him in remand custody, that is, 23 months (equivalent to one year 11 months) as required by section 24 of the Sentencing and Penalties Act 2009 for calculating the period of incarceration.

“The head sentence of the petitioner is 12 years.

“The period of remand custody for which the petitioner is entitled to a benefit is one year and 11 months.

“The sentencing period is, therefore, calculated as 10 years and one month with non-parole period of eight years six months.”