Sau’iluma Guttenbeil was acquitted of murdering her husband after she ran over him with her four-wheel drive vehicle in Neiafu in 2012, but was found guilty of manslaughter at the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa last week.

The 38-year-old mother of seven is to be sentenced next month. Mr Justice Cato delivered his verdict on Thursday 23 October.

She was charged with murder (in the alternative of manslaughter) of Michael Guttenbeil, a quarry manager, who died on October 10, 2012. 

The judge found that she had ran over her husband with her motor vehicle to stop a fight between him and a Tongan man, Sosefo 'Otutaha. She also ran over and seriously injured her brother-in-law, Albert Brian Guttenbeil, who was also involved in the confrontation with Sosefo.

Mr Justice Cato did not find that the Crown had proven beyond reasonable doubt the murder count and acquitted her.

However, on manslaughter count he found beyond reasonable doubt, that she had committed an unlawful act and that she tragically ran over her husband causing his death.

"I reject beyond any reasonable doubt, her explanation that she did not voluntarily drive forward but accidentally accelerated forward causing his fatal injuries. I reject entirely any suggestion that her husband's death was not due to her actions. I find that she deliberately drove the vehicle quickly into the area where she knew men, including her husband, were fighting thus exposing them to a risk of injury. I find her guilty of manslaughter."

Evidence

The trial which was held in Neiafu on October 6-15 was the first time that a case of murder involving a misdirected homicide was prosecuted in Tonga.

Mr Justice Cato said after listening to the evidence his findings of fact was that on October 10 there was an initial meeting between the accused and Fadel Al-Zubaidi and his wife Sei at 6:30am at the Guttenbeil residence.

He said Fadel came to the house with his wife Sei uninvited, when Michael was not home. During that meeting the accused was told of Fadel’s concerns about her husband having an affair with his wife The accused told Fadel and his wife in strong language to leave the premises. She was concerned and probably angry as well that she shortly after contacted the Neiafu police before her husband returned.

Michael had then returned and he and the accused took their children to school. Michael drove with the accused in the passenger seat when he saw Fadel’s car on the opposite side of the road on his return to the area of Albert driveway to King’s drive, the main road into Neiafu, reversed back and parked near the vicinity of it in the direction of Neiafu, he said.

“I accept that Michael and Fadel had a fight and the accused and Sei were out of the vehicle for sometime. During this time Michael’s attention was drawn to Sosefo, possibly because of remarks concerning his involvement by Sei or perhaps because Sefo was also seen as an aggressor. From that point on, Fadel and Sei had no part in the events that followed.”

He accepted that Michael was the aggressor and was in pursuit of Sefo who made off to the Neiafu side of the pathway that led to a school.

“Mrs Guttenbeil then decided to get back in the vehicle in the driver’s seat.  I accept also that Mrs Guttenbeil she drove the vehicle ... quickly and close enough to Sefo to at least appear to make contact grazing him. At that point Michael, according to Sefo, had slipped over nearby.

The judge said that the evidence however, did not persuade him that the accused intended to make contact with Sefo and harm or injure him. “I do not think the evidence establishes any more than her driving was, as she claims, for the purpose of separating Sefo and her husband and avoiding any further fighting,” he said, and “to that extent she was supporting her husband who seems to have slipped over nearby.”

Tragic

The judge concluded however, for her to drive her four-wheel drive with a bull bar at a speed in the close vicinity of people she knew to be fighting was a reckless and dangerous act.

"I find she was travelling at a speed that was so fast that she could not stop and made collision with the fence to the Neiafu end of the school in the opposite driveway."

He said whatever her motive was, he was unable on the evidence to draw the inference she intended beyond a reasonable doubt to harm and likely kill Sefo, as the prosecutor had submitted based on her previous driving or in combination with her actions during the final period before running over Michael and his brother Albert.

“Tragically she drove so quickly that her husband and Albert were probably taken by surprise and unable to get out of the way, Michael was mortally injured and Albert seriously,” the judge said.

During the trial from October 6-15 in the Supreme Court in Neiafu, Dr Tevita Tuungafasi gave evidence that Michael suffered severe internal bleeding into the chest, attributable to broken ribs and injury to the arteries of the heart. He was admitted to Hospital about 9:00am on October 10, 2012 and died at about 1:00pm.