Mikaele Hoponoa Pahulu (40) was sentenced to three-years imprisonment for beating up a 71-year-old patient at the Psychiatric Ward in Vaiola Hospital. The victim, who suffered a severe head injury, remains paralysed and is fed via nasogastric tube. 

The accused was sentenced at the Supreme Court last week, after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to Nafetalai Latu of Ha'ateiho, on October 18 last year.

The Crown submitted the accused lifted the victim up and thew him with force on the floor, causing injuries to his head and endangering his life. 

The accused who is from Folaha was a security guard at the Psychiatric Ward.

It was submitted that at around 5:30pm on October 18, the registered nurses started gathering their equipment for the patients' routine check-up. One of the nurses at the ward noticed on the surveillance camera that someone was beating another person by kicking and throwing him to the floor. 

She recognised that the person doing the beating was the accused. 
She then called out to another security guard and the other staff, for them to run over and check what was happening. When reached the incident, the nurse saw the accused sitting down on a chair and the victim was lying on his back facing upwards.

The victim was admitted to the Surgical Ward around 9:00pm where he was examined and found to have sustained a severe head injury as a result of the assault, among other minor injuries.

In addition, the doctor's report on October 25, 2019, said the victim started opening his eyes spontaneously but he was not able to understand what was being said to him and he was also unable to speak.

The victim was fed via a nasogastric tube because he was unable to feed himself. 

A complaint was lodged with the Police on behalf of the victim and the accused was arrested on November 7, 2019. 


Meanwhile, the doctor's progress report in May this year showed that the victim was still unable to move and was being fed via nasogastric tube. 

The accused cooperated with the police and had no previous conviction. He was also reported to have apologized to the victim's family.

Of the three-years sentence, the last 18-months was suspended on conditions that he will be placed under probation, complete an Anger Management Course, must not drink alcohol and must not re-offend.

Pahulu's sentence was also backdated to when he was first detained in police custody.