By Linny Folau
Irvin Fukofuka (30) will be sentenced in June on two charges of possession of 13.52 grams of methamphetamine and utensils seized in a drug deal raided by Police in Houma in May last year.
Lord Chief Justice Bishop convicted him of the charges on 2 May in the Supreme Court, Nuku’alofa. The utensils included one weighing scale, empty pack, one straw and smoking pipe.
On 17 January 2025, the defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges together with two other co-accused, including Mr Neiufi and the trial was set to start on 30 April 2025. Then on that day, the co-accused changed his plea to guilty, while the defendant maintained the same plea and proceeded to trial.
The judge stated that the facts are very simple. Acting on information received, the police found two cars parked next to each other, in one car was the defendant in the original indictment and Mr Neiufi, in the other, and his partner, Mavis who was in the passenger seat.
“The defendant was outside the car at the time, saw the police and began to run away. I have already indicated to counsels for both parties that the fact of leaving a scene in a hurry has been held not to entitle an inference of guilt to be made because that could be for all sorts of reasons, and I put that out of mind entirely,” stated the judge.
Police found over $3,000 on the driver's seat and the defendant, admitted that the money was his.
“Sadly, he was not questioned as to how he came by that money. But the fact that a large amount of cash, and I emphasis cash in these days of banking and credit cards, suggests strongly that there was some nefarious purpose in being in possession of such a large amount. However, that of itself cannot prove the offence, I do consider it as part of the surrounding circumstances. Also in the car was a red leather bag, and inside the bag was a wallet and an identity card of Mavis, also in the bag were the drugs in question.”
When asked about it, the defendant told Police it was given to him by Mateni, "and it is ice" (methamphetamine.) He was asked about the cash, and he accepted that it was his money. He was told that it would be seized. He also admitted to owning the weighing scale.
The judge was satisfied that the Police officer's evidence was reliable.
"First that the package, which contained ice had been given to him by his co-defendant Neiufi, and secondly, that the weighing scales, which was found next to the bag, in the space between both seats, was also his. I accept that although the indication was that the ultimate owner of the drugs in question was the co-defendant Neiufi and that this defendant had received it. That, in my view, amounts to sufficient nexus of custody and control of the drugs in question to amount to being in possession of it."
The Lord Chief Justice then found him guilty on both counts. He is expected to be sentenced next month.
