In an unanimous verdict this afternoon, a jury found ‘Atonio Moeaki (40) guilty of murdering Dr Sione Feo Lau’i (23).

The seven-member jury gave their verdict at around 3:45pm today, after an hour and a half of deliberation. They found him guilty of murdering Dr Lau’i whom he hit on the head with a silver aluminum baseball bat on Vuna Road, in front of the new Taufa’ahau Tupou IV Domestic Wharf, on the night of February 9, 2018.

Moeaki, who was angry with the victim after they had a confrontation outside the Nauti Ruby nightclub, chased him down the road and committed the brutal assault.

From the Crown's evidence during trial, the accused had struck the victim on the head with this hard baseball and on other parts of his body. The head injury from this foreceful strike caused his death a few days later on February 15, 2018.

Hon Mr Justice Cato sentenced Moeaki to life imprisonment, straight after the jury found him guilty of murder.

The Court also heard from the Prosecutor ‘Aminiasi Kefu that Moeaki had previous convictions of bodily harm and assault, which occured in 2016. For these he was fined $200 pa'anga and one-year probation imposed at the Magistrate's Court, he said.

Meanwhile, the victim’s mother Meleseini, sister and other members of his family were in Court to hear the verdict and sentencing.

Sifa Tu’utafaiva represented Moeaki during the trial by judge and jury which began last week.

This is the second murder conviction and life imprisonment sentence imposed in 2019 at the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa.

Sitiveni ‘Esi Muli (17) was earlier convicted of murdering a farming couple Mr Feng Sheng Pei and Mrs Su Jie Wen at their vegetable plantation in Matafonua last year.