Auckland NZ – Tongan methamphetamine trafficker Ulakai Fakaosilea, who helped import more than half a tonne of the drug through Ninety Mile Beach before later orchestrating another massive shipment while behind bars, has failed to overturn his life sentence.
The Court of Appeal dismissed Fakaosilea’s challenge to his life imprisonment in a judgment delivered on 15 September, ruling that the seriousness of his offending required the maximum available penalty.
Fakaosilea was already serving 22 years and nine months in prison for his role in the notorious importation of 501kg of methamphetamine into New Zealand when he became involved in further drug offending from inside prison.
Despite being incarcerated for one of New Zealand’s largest methamphetamine importations, he went on to play a leading role in another operation, orchestrating the importation of 198.2kg of methamphetamine.
He pleaded guilty to the later offending and in March last year was sentenced in the High Court to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.
Fakaosilea is the brother of Selaima Fakaosilea, who was also convicted over the record 501kg methamphetamine importation through Ninety Mile Beach in 2016 and received a lengthy prison sentence, although she was not sentenced to life imprisonment.
Guilty pleas fail to displace life sentence
Fakaosilea appealed, arguing that life imprisonment was manifestly excessive and that the Court should instead have imposed a fixed-term sentence, particularly because of his guilty pleas and personal circumstances.
However, the Court of Appeal found his leading role, the enormous quantity of methamphetamine involved and, critically, the fact that he committed the offences while already serving a lengthy sentence for similar offending placed his case among the most serious for which life imprisonment was available.
The Court considered whether Fakaosilea’s guilty pleas should have resulted in a finite sentence rather than life imprisonment.
It acknowledged that guilty pleas normally attract sentencing credit because they save court resources and remove the risk and expense of a trial.
But the judges found those considerations carried less weight in Fakaosilea’s circumstances when balanced against the need for deterrence, denunciation and protection of the community.
The Court stressed that a guilty plea can, in some cases, be sufficient to move a sentence away from life imprisonment, but said it was not enough in this case.
Offending from prison decisive
The Court said the most significant feature was that Fakaosilea organised serious methamphetamine offending from prison while serving a lengthy sentence for importing more than 501kg of the same drug.
It also rejected the argument that his other personal mitigating circumstances and prospects of rehabilitation made life imprisonment inappropriate.
The judges said aspects of Fakaosilea’s background helped explain his association with gangs and a criminal lifestyle, but did not sufficiently explain offending of such seriousness. The Court also found there was no demonstrated intention to leave gang life or rehabilitate.
In upholding the sentence, the Court said the circumstances required the continuing oversight that accompanies life imprisonment.
Unlike a finite prison term, a life sentence means Fakaosilea remains subject to the sentence for the rest of his life, even if he is eventually released on parole.
The Court concluded that, given the scale and circumstances of his repeated methamphetamine trafficking, that level of oversight was appropriate.
Fakaosilea’s appeal was dismissed.
