'Inoke Hu’akau (39) received a suspended sentence for charges, including possession of 0.06 grams of methamphetamine seized at a home in Kapeta, earlier this year.

He was sentenced by Justice Langi to six-months imprisonment, which was fully suspended on November 27. This was after, he pleaded guilty to two counts at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court, in October.

The judge said the accused claimed he only pleaded guilty because it was his house but that he did not take drugs.

However, the Crown Prosecutor informed the Court that police had found a packet of methamphetamine inside his pockets, which corrected this contention by the accused. 

A pre-sentence report said, the accused is a permanent resident of Australia but that he returned to Tonga in 2014 to help his parents. He has remained here ever since.

The accused said, on the day police conducted the search of his house, he and his girlfriend had been out shopping.

When they returned home they found other people inside the house and they got into an argument when he tried to chase them out. He claimed, it was during this time that police arrived and found the illicit drugs in the house. 


A first time drug offender, the judge accepted the accused was remorseful and that the possession of the illicit drugs was for his own personal use.

Meanwhile, the conditions of the suspended sentence, include that he must remain crime free for one-year, complete a Salvation Army Drugs and Alcohol Awareness 
Program/ Life Skills course and carry out 40-hours of community work. among others.

The illicit drugs seized were ordered to be destroyed.