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A man who robbed the driver of a bread delivery van of $30 and threw a stone at his wife that later killed her, has been jailed for five years.
Setefanu Nausu,32, earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter, larceny and robbery with violence.
On April 27, 2008, Nausu approached a bread delivery van parked at Colo-i-Suva and then robbed the driver, Kishore Kumar of $30 after assaulting him.
Nausu then threw a stone at the vehicle, which smashed through the window, hitting Sarojni Lata on her head.
Lata later died due to injuries sustained in the assault.
After this, Nausu stopped a taxi and robbed the driver.
In sentencing Justice Daniel Goundar said, the offences were committed in a state of intoxication, and while the accused was serving a suspended sentence for an offence involving the use of violence.
“I do not consider this case to fall in the category of the lower range of manslaughter.
“Nor do I consider the killing to be of its worst kind to attract a sentence on the high range. I assess your culpability by looking at your overall conduct.”
“You have been persistent in your criminal pursuit. You showed total disregard for the safety of your victims who were public service providers,” Justice Goundar said.
He added the mitigating factors are his early guilty plea, remorse and personal circumstances.
On count three (robbery), the mobile phone which he stole from the taxi driver was recovered and the complainant was not physically injured.
“You have spent one year and three months in remand. You are entitled to a reduction in your sentence to reflect the period you were in remand.”
Taking all these into account, Nausu was jailed for one year for larceny (count one), five years for manslaughter (court two) and two years for robbery with violence (count three).
The sentence is to be served concurrently.
