2C.L.B. 1987 December4 [A LOIZOU LORIS STYUANIDES JJ) ELIA NAIM CHABIB-AWAD, Appellant, ν THEREPUBLIC, Respondent (Criminal Appeal No 4921) Sentence — Conspiracyto commit a felony, to wit armedrobbery,contraryto c. 10 15 sections 37 and 20 of the Criminal Code, Cap 154 — Appellant,a young Lebanese 22years of age readilyconfesseduponhisarrest(hecommission of the offence and assistedin the arrest of his collaborators — Two years imprisonment—Upheld Hisham Ittam arrived by boatatLamacaon the27th August 1987 carrying with him four cases containingcurrenciesof various Arab countries,equalin value toseven-hundred thousand U5 dollars Hewas metattheairport by ElKhounandtheybothleftbycarfortheirhotel,having locked thecases with 'he money in the boot of the car As soon as they alighted from it at the entrance of the Hotel,there appeared three armed persons weanng tracksuits and caps and their faces covered with masks made of ladies stockings, whoattemptedtorobthesaid IttamandKhoun Among those arrested by the police was theappellant, a young Lebanese 22 years of age, who, after his arrest, confessed to the commission of the offence of conspiracy tocommitarmed robbery and assisted in thearrest of hiscollaborators and generally inthedetectionof the case Thisappeal isdirectedagainst the sentence of twoyears' imprisonment for the offence of conspiracy tocommitarmed robbery 20 Held, dismissing the appeal, that there is no reason to interfere with the sentence Appealdismissed Appeal againstsentence. Appeal against sentenceby EliaNairn Chebib-Awad who was 25 convictedonthe9thOctober,1987attheAssizeCourtofLamaca 173 Chabib-Awad v.Republic
(1987)(Cnminal Case No 8990/87) on one count of the offence of conspmng with others tocommitafelony contrarytosections 371 and20 of theCnminalCode,Cap 154 (asamended by Laws 4/74 and 43/74)and was sentenced by Nikitas,Ρ DC , Laoutas, S D J and G Nicolaou, DJ totwo years' impnsonment 5 Appellant appeared m person AM Angehdes, Senior Counsel of the Republic, for the respondent A LOIZOUJ gave the following judgment of the Court The appellant was found, by the Lamaca Assize Court, guilty on his 10 own plea of a charge of conspmng with otherstocommita felony contrary to Sections 371 and 20 of the Cnminal Code, Cap 154 as amended by Laws No 4 of 1974 and 43 of 1974 Theparticulars of theoffences werethattheappellant andhisex co-accused on the information between the 1st August 1987 and 15 the 23rd August 1987, both days inclusive on a date unknown to theprosecution inLimassol and Lamaca within theterntory of the Republic of Cyprus conspired between them and a certain Said Joseph Dain of unknown abode to commit a felony towit armed robbery Themaximum sentenceprovided by theCodefortheoffence in question is seven years' impnsonment and the sentence imposed on him was one of two years' impnsonment On Sunday the 23rd August 1987, around 7 00 a m there was committed infront of the entrance of the Hotel «Evianthi» in 25 Georghios Georghiades Street Larnaca the offence of attempted robbery Ex-accused 2, 4 and 5 pleaded guilty to the charge of attempted robbery contrary to section 284 of the Code and to other counts relating to the possession of pistols rounds of ammunition and a silencer of pistols The victims of this attempt 30 were Tom ElKhoun and Hisham Ittam The latter arrived by boat at Lamaca on the 27th August carrying with him four cases containing currencies of vanous Arabcountnes, equal invalueto seven-hundred thousand US dollars He was met at the airport by ElKhoun and they both left by car for the hotel having locked 35 the cases with the money in the boot of the car As soon as they alighted from it at the entrance of the Hotel there appeared the three armed persons weanng track-suits and caps and their faces covered with masks made of ladies stockings Ex-accused 4 and 5 174 2 C.L.R. 5 Chablb-Awad v.Republic A.Loizou J. asked the victim to raise hishands but instead he reacted quickly and run away whilstone of the armed men aimed at him with a pistol shouting at him to stop. In the meantime the other person managed to get into the hotel whilst the culprits after their unsuccessful attempts to open the boot of the car left running away. With the assistance of eye-witnesses and as a result of speedy Police action most of the persons involved in the planning, preparation and commission of these offences were arrested and 10 prosecuted.Amongthemwasthepresentappellant,whoafter his arrest confessed to the commission of the offence of conspiracy, and who in fact cooperated with the Police and assisted in the arrest of his collaborators and generally in the detection of the case. The appellant claimed, however, to have been forced into 15 this situation by the master mind of the offence, who was ex accused 1. The culprits,wholikethe victimscome from Lebanon, knewof the activities of the complainants and the money in foreign currencies he was bringing regularly from Lebanon to Cyprus for 20 the purpose of forwarding such money through Lamaca Port to their countries of origin and they placed the Port under surveillance waiting for his amval for the execution of this well planned and ina wayunknown innature inCyprus offence. The Assize Court in passing sentence took into consideration 25 the conduct of the appellant after hisarrest as a mitigating factor andinparticularhiscooperation withthePolice.Andalsothe fact, that he was unlike the other co-assused facing only a charge of conspiracy. The appellant istwenty-twoyearsof age, a labourer employed 30 inadress-making factory inLebanon and engaged tobe married. His fiance lives with his parents there. It is unfortunate that a young man as the appellant has come toa foreign country which hasextended tohimhospitalityandhedidnotrespectthelaws of the host country. This abuse by the appellant of the hospitality 35 giventohim herewasthesubject ofcomment bytheAssizeCourt which observed that though that could not be considered as an aggravating factor, yet, it had to note that there was «increased criminalityamong ourguests,»asitput it. The appellant has complained by the present appeal that the 40 sentence imposed on him was manifestly excessive or that there 175 A. Loizou J. Chablb-Awad v.Republic
(1987)wasroom forleniencysothathewould gobacktohiscountryand return to hisnormal occupation. We are afraid we cannot subscribe to this. Having considered what he hassaid himself inthiscasewe find noreasonto interfere with the sentence imposed by the Assize Court in his case. 5 Consequently thisappeal isdismissed. Appealdismissed. 176