The Government of Tonga has formally submitted an extradition request to the United States Government for the return of Dean Jay Fletcher (54) to be tried in Nuku’alofa to face a charge of murdering his wife in July this year in Neiafu, Vava'u.

On Tuesday, December 6 Tonga's Attorney General’s Office submitted the request to the United States Embassy in Suva, Fiji.

The Acting Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions 'Aminiasi Kefu delivered the extradition request to the U.S Consular Office to be certified, before it would be delivered through diplomatic channels to the U.S State Department and then to the United States Department of Justice, for consideration and processing.

He said the extradition request is expected to be submitted by the United States Department of Justice to the United States Federal Court in Honolulu on January 10, 2017 to consider and decide whether to grant Tonga’s request.

If the U.S Federal District Court grants the Tongan Government’s request, this decision may be reviewed for its legality under a habeas corpus application made by Fletcher to a U.S. Federal Court of Appeals. In addition, an appeal from a decision of the U.S Court of Appeals can be made to the U.S Supreme Court.

"If the U.S. Courts do decide to grant the Tongan Government’s request, the ultimate decision whether to extradite Fletcher to Tonga or not, will be made by the United States Government in accordance with the laws of the United States."

Absconded

Fletcher is accused of murdering his wife Patricia Linne Kearney, a Canadian, on 6 July on their yacht Sea Oak.

He escaped custody from a police station in Neiafu at around 3:30am on 29 September. Tonga Police have not released details from an internal inquiry into how he managed to escape.

Fletcher absconded to American Samoa on his yacht, where he was captured by authorities.

In November, he was handed over to three U.S. Marshalls and was escorted from Pagopago to Hawaii, where he appeared at a Federal Court in Honolulu.

The couple who had first arrived in Vava’u on 26 May on their yacht docked at the Puatalefusi Harbour, where the crime is alleged to have occured.