NO sentencing submissions have been made yesterday on the forgery case involving the cashing of a government cheque of more than $50,000.
The submissions were not made because the presiding judge was said to be busy with other official duties, therefore a new date for the sentencing submissions.
The case is awaiting the sentencing submissions before a sentence is delivered.
The two accused Betris Wale and Simon Tigota were found guilty after a trial in the Honiara Magistrates’ Court.
Tigota was found guilty of one count of forgery while his co-accused Wale was found guilty of one count of uttering.
The court found that Tigota forged one of the old government cheques he stole a year earlier and managed to cash the cheque of $560,000 with the help of Wale, in 2007.
The verdict was handed down in May this year by the now Judge Leonard Maina at the High Court.
Maina used to be the chief magistrate in the Honiara Magistrate Court when he heard the trial in 2010.
The Public Solicitor’s Office is representing both accused while the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions Office represents the State.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
