Armed driver convicted of cannabis possession [1]
Monday, June 29, 2020 - 18:24
Manase Tonga was convicted on two counts of possession of cannabis and nine .22 rifle ammunitions without a license, during a police search of a vehicle at Sopu.
Hon. Mr Justice Niu on June 26 found the accused guilty, after a trial in May at the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa.
Another count was dismissed after the Crown offered no evidence.
The judge said after hearing all of the evidence, he was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, that the accused was guilty.
The Court heard, from police witnesses that in the early hours of November 7, 2018, three police officers were returning from a call of domestic violence at Sopu.
They saw a black car with its lights and engine off stopping and parking at about the middle of the road. The accused was the only one sitting in the driver's seat, and the police vehicle stopped right beside him.
One police officer got out of their vehicle and went over and asked the accused why he was there. The accused said that he had just woken up, and was told to wind down his window because it was half open.
Rifle
The police officer said, at this time he shone his torch into the car and he saw a rifle beside the accused with the barrel facing the driver’s door and the accused finger inside the trigger guard of the rifle.
He told the accused to get out but he did not. The officer then reached into the car and took out the rifle, identified as a .22 and the accused was handcuffed.
Meanwhile, another police officer in searching the car found a green fabric bag between the front seats which had a plastic bag, containing 29 packs of marijuana, weighing 58.25 grams
Another plastic bag with crumbled cannabis leaves was found weighing 1.95 grams, and cannabis leaves in a black bag with white dots, weighed 4.01 grams.
Search lawful
The search of the car carried out by the officers on the road, was done without any warrant having been issued by the Court.
The judge said, the Tonga Police Act provides that a police officer may, without warrant, stop detain and search any motor vehicle and seize any thing, including the vehicle, if he is satisfied on reasonable grounds that: “a serious offence has been committed, is being committed or is about to be committed in the vehicle or it would be impracticable, unreasonable or not in the interests of justice if the officer was required to apply for a warrant in order to conduct a search in relation to the offence.”
In the present case, when the officer shone his torch into the accused's vehicle and saw the rifle in his hand, he had not stopped or detained the accused or his vehicle in any way.
He was then satisfied that the officers were acting in accordance with the above stated provisions of S.123 and that the search that they carried out in the vehicle of the accused was lawful.
The accused awaits sentencing.