Liquor shop robber fails to get sentence cut

Eti Filoa. Photo / Brett Phibbs

One of six men jailed over the robbery of an Auckland liquor store during which owner Navtej Singh was shot and killed has failed in his attempt to get his prison sentence reduced.

Eti Filoa, 26, was jailed for four years and four months this year after being found guilty of aggravated robbery. He had been acquitted of murder or manslaughter.

He appealed against his sentence, maintaining that the sentencing judge, Justice Graham Lang, had erred in not giving credit for a 24-hour curfew to which hehad been subjected before trial.

Filoa also argued that Justice Lang had not acknowledged the efforts he had made while on remand to deal with an alcohol problem.

However, in a Court of Appeal judgment released today, Justice Susan Glazebrook, Justice Lester Chisholm and Justice Forrest Miller said that, while compliance with a restrictive bail regime could be a mitigating factor at sentencing, it did not have to be.

They said relevant considerations were the extent to which the offender's liberty had been curtailed, the duration of the remand on bail and whether the offender breached bail.

The appeal judges were not persuaded that credit had to be given in Filoa's case, taking into account the freedom of movement he enjoyed for most of the period after his conditions were relaxed, and the fact that he breached bail at least once.

They also said the sentencing judge did not have to give him credit for taking steps to deal with his alcohol problem.

"That was a tangible demonstration of remorse, but the credit given for remorse was sufficient."

Mr Singh was fatally shot during the robbery in June 2008, when Filoa's role was as lookout and driver of a second getaway car.

- NZPA