Loseli Tonga (28) was sentenced to six-years and nine-months imprisonment for reckless driving that caused the death of three of his passengers, during a tragic crash in Leimatu'a in 2017.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of reckless driving causing death, three of reckless driving causing grievous bodily harm and two reckless driving causing bodily harm. 

Lord Chief Justice O.G. Paulsen in sentencing on March 22 said the facts which was not in dispute was tragic.

On October 13, 2017, Tonga was drinking at home in Leimatu'a with another man from about 2:00pm, before they went to a club around 9-10pm, in his father's pick up truck. He drove despite having been drinking and not being the holder of a full driver's licence. 

He said, they stayed at the nightclub until it closed at around 1:00am. While, there they met with some others and the accused drove the group to a look out spot known as Ii-'o Mata'aho at Leimatu'a where they continued drinking, before being joined by more revelers.

At around 7:00am they all got into the pick-up to drive into town to get more alcohol. There were seven men in total, Tonga and another were inside the cab of the pick-up, while five men were outside on the tray.

"Tonga was intoxicated and was driving extremely fast and was sleepy. The pick­ up swerved hard to the left and threw three men from the tray. It then skidded and flipped a number of times coming to a halt in an upright position inside a bush patch facing the left side of the road. The three men who had been on the tray were thrown and killed either immediately or very soon after the crash."

They were 'Ulaea Havea of Leimatu'a, 'Anitelu Tufunga Katoa (also known as Semisi Katoa) of Leimatu'a and Kasete Kivalu Latu of Makave. 

Meanwhile, the three others suffered serious injuries; one a serious head injury and the other two broken bones (a tibia and right clavicle) and two others suffered less serious injuries in the form of lacerations and abrasions.

Tonga was also injured and despite being brought before the Court promptly, Police inquiries were put on hold for a number of months until he was fully recovered.

He was cooperative with the Police and when he appeared before the Court on arraignment, and pleaded guilty to all charges at the first opportunity. 

Recklessness

The Chief Justice said this case is unusual in both the degree of Tonga's recklessness and in the number of victims, including three young men who have died. 

Tonga has admitted that he was seriously reckless by the fact of his guilty plea.

"I can see nothing in the circumstances that could be considered a mitigating factor of the offending and none was suggested to me. The offending is clearly at the very higher end of the scale requiring a commensurate response from the court by way of sentence."

He accepted that the offending could have been even worse had, say, Tonga had a previous history of offending for this type of offence or had the victims included pedestrians or persons who were not part of his party or had even more of Tonga's passengers suffered serious harm or death.

"Clearly in a case where the degree of criminality of the offending is high and the consequences so terrible any suspension can only be partial."

He then said that he is concerned that Tonga's reoffending combined with his alcohol dependency may indicate that he may be resistant to rehabilitation.

On the other hand, I consider that society will be best served should he be released at the end of his sentence subject to conditions that allows him to acquire life skills, deal with this addiction and re-establish his life, he said.

Sentence 

On the three counts of reckless driving causing grievous bodily harm, Tonga was sentenced to two-years six-months imprisonment, with one-year six-months for the two counts of reckless driving causing bodily harm.

The sentences of imprisonment are being served concurrently, with the leading offence of reckless driving causing death.

The Chief Justice then suspended the final 15-months of his sentence on conditions that he must not commit any offences punishable by imprisonment during his suspension, complete within six-months of release both a Life Skills and a Drug and Alcohol Abuse course, among others.

In addition, he was disqualified from obtaining any driver's licence for three-years starting from the sentencing date.

In Tonga, the maximum penalty of reckless driving causing death is 15-years imprisonment.