Man found not guilty of reckless driving causing death [1]
Friday, November 3, 2017 - 17:04. Updated on Friday, November 3, 2017 - 17:05.
A man accused of reckless driving has been found not guilty in relation to a fatal car crash in Pahu last year that left a driver dead. The accused, Tauheango Filoehevalu Ma'ake, was alleged to have been in a “race” with the victim, Iteni Maile. However Hon. Justice Cato in the Supreme Court of Tonga on 25 October, dismissed the charge as he said there was no sufficient evidence.
According to the prosecution, the accused caused the victim’s vehicle to sway off the road and into a container. The victim's vehicle bounced back from the container and hit the accused's vehicle which was also spun around. The accused fled the scene on foot and later turned himself in to a police station. The accused said that he fled the scene because he feared that occupants of the victim’s vehicle would assault him.
A witness in the case, Ha'ahao Soane, told the court that she was driving East along Bypass Road in the early hours of the morning when she saw two cars approaching her at speed. The witness said that the vehicles were zigzagging on the road and that she pulled over to let the vehicles pass her. She said she could see the victim’s vehicle, a red van, attempting to pass the accused’s vehicle. She said that she heard a loud bang from behind but did not stop or drive back.
Hon. Justice Cato stated his dissatisfaction with the evidence, “Her observations were based simply on lights coming from the oncoming cars and she herself admitted, understandably, that her focus was on taking evasive action to avoid the car coming towards her, which I find as a red van which later collided with the container.”
Justic Cato stated in his written decision, “She had very limited opportunity (only a short-period in difficult circumstances) in my view to observe the passage of the vehicles towards her along the Bypass Road at about 3am. The accused denied racing the vehicle. There was no evidence that the accused and the deceased were known to each other, or that either had reason to be racing or interfering with each other's' passage along the road."
Hon. Justice Cato concluded “I am not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was driving recklessly and in such a manner as to have caused or materially contributed to the accident and the unfortunate death of Iteni Maile. I cannot draw any adverse inference against the accused because he left the scene, in the light of his explanation."