The father of the accused civilian Semisi Kalistiane Manu who is on jury trial for manslaughter in the death of Kali Fungavaka, said he witnessed the police beating up Kali at the Nuku'alofa Police Station.

Andre Manu, the Crown's second witness in his evidence in chief today said he was at the station on the night of August 17, 2012 because his son was arrested and in custody.

He was standing at the counter area inside the station when Kali was brought in by the two accused police officers Salesi Maile and Fatai Faletau.

They stood outside the charge office, adjacent to a half partition wall to the watch house, because the two officers had difficulty taking Kali inside the watch house as he managed to get out from their grip. At this time the Police Inspector Kelepi Hala’ufia came into the station with another arrested person Tavake Paea, accompanied by two other officers and went in the watch house, the court heard.

Beatings

The witness alleged that Hala’ufia came out and stood beside him at the counter and insisted to the two officers who held Kali to hurry up and take him inside to the watch house, but they had difficulty. He got angry so he went up and stood behind Kali and hit him on the top rear of his head with a torch.

He said the two accused officers were standing holding back each of Kali's arms. His head was slightly bending forward when Hala’ufia struck him with the torch. I then saw Hala'ufia poked Kali with the torch in an uppercut motion to his stomach or chest area.

“Kali was weak and not moving. If the police officers were not holding his arms he would have dropped to the floor. When Kali was struck on the head Sgt Lose Blake who was there ran outside,” he said.

The witness also said while the beating took place he was standing with Ashley Fua, the Officer-in-Charge of the station that night. “I suggested to him to stop the beating because the person will die. The beating happened right in front of me,” he said.

“When Kali was dragged into the watch house the police officers continued beating him inside, because I could see through the half partition wall their heads bending down and getting up. They continued beating him up for about 15-20 minutes,” he said.

During cross-examination by the defence counsel Sione 'Etika, the black torch was produced and shown to the witness and jury.

The witness demonstrated the impact of the torch being struck on Kali's head by using a plastic water bottle to hit his hand. “It was a hard force,” he said.

He remained at the counter area until 3:00am on August 18, 2012 when his son was released from prison before they went home.

The jury trial continues at the Supreme Court before Mr Justice Cato.