Sione Tui’one Pulotu (47) will continue serving his prison term for serious indecent assaults committed on a woman in Tongatapu, after his application to appeal against sentence was refused by the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa.

In July last year, the accused was found guilty on two charges of serious indecent assault committed in 2018. He told the Court he was intoxicated at the time of the offending. He was a first time offender.

In August last year, he was sentenced by the Lord Chief Justice Whitten QC to two-years imprisonment, with the last 12-months suspended on conditions.

“In sentencing for sexual offences, the principal objectives must be denunciation, deterrence and public protection. So too is it important for the Courts to send a clear message that, subject to s.21, voluntary abuse of alcohol by so-called binge drinking, which so often is a most regrettable and damaging catalyst for it, can never be an excuse for criminal behaviour, he said.

Appeal refused

At the same time, the accused represented by his counsel Mr Corbett filed an application for leave to appeal against sentence.

Lord Chief Justice Whitten in a judgment last month refused the application for leave to appeal and the application for bail pending appeal, after a hearing.

He said, Mr Corbett agreed that there was no actual ground or basis for his client's amended application for leave to appeal against sentence and he agreed that the applications for leave generally and for bail should be refused.

This meant that the accused continued to serve his prison term.

The Lord Chief Justice then directed that the identity of the complainant and her evidence taken in the proceedings shall not be published or broadcasted in Tonga.