THREE Fiji National University (FNU) students who broke into student lockers at the University of the South Pacific (USP) were handed suspended sentences yesterday.
Shavneel Kumar, 20, Divneel Nair, 18 and Melvin Narayan, 19, appeared before the Suva Magistrates Court yesterday.
They each faced two counts of theft, while Kumar and Nair faced an additional count each of attempted theft.
On the first count, the court heard that between May 18 and May 22 this year, the three stole an LG Notebook laptop and its charger worth $800, a black portable Super Multi Drive worth $199 and a small notebook worth $2. On the second count, the three stole a girl's wallet valued at $60, a pair of reading glasses and its black case worth $300, two flashdrives worth $60 and $2.80 in assorted coins.
Magistrate Thushara Rajasinghe said their crimes were an invasion of personal liberty. He said some of the stolen items directly and indirectly assisted the victims in their studies.
He took into account their mitigation, and noted they had pleaded guilty early, they were remorseful, they were students and first offenders. "You are all students of FNU which I consider as a strong reason that the court should not adversely interfere into your studies in the sentencing," Magistrate Rajasinghe said.
The three were sentenced to 16 months, suspended for three years.