TWO teenage cousins, who broke into a relative’s Nadi home on December 30, 2025, and stole a television, clothes, and bags walked away from the High Court in Lautoka with suspended sentences.
Justice Aruna Aluthge sentenced the two on August 31 ordering names to be suppressed because they were juveniles at the time of the offences.
Each received a two-year prison term, suspended for three years.
The teenagers will be placed on probation under the supervision of a welfare officer.
Further offences committed during the suspension period will result in the two serving the original sentence behind bars.
The juveniles targeted the couple’s home in Nadi while they were away during the day.
They gained entry by opening a sitting room window grill and neighbouring children spotted the pair inside the house.
When the owners returned to find their bedroom ransacked and property missing, the man traced a trail nearby and recovered the stolen 32-inch television wrapped in garbage bags, along with the remaining stolen clothing items.
Both youths voluntarily surrendered to Nadi police, admitted the offences during caution interviews, and pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
While burglaries are on the rise in Fiji,Justice Aluthge said, the offence fell into the lower harm category as the stolen property was of minimal value and the opportunistic theft involved no violence.
He said young and first-time offenders deserved an opportunity to rehabilitate.
He said special circumstances, including one of the juvenile’s studies in cookery at Fiji National University, their genuine remorse, full recovery of the stolen goods, and clean records, justified suspending the prison term.
