Four men were found guilty at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court on numerous charges of possessing methamphetamine and cannabis at a home in Hofoa, where drug dealing was conducted.

Justice Langi on Ferbuary 8 found Pangi Puloka, Faka’osi Katoa, Sione Songo’imoli and Viliami Na’a guilty of their charges of possession.

A fifth accused, ‘Isitolo Sakopo, was acquitted due to insufficient evidence.

A sixth accused, Ma'ulupekotofa Soakimi, had already pleaded guilty to one count of possession of cannabis, and his matter had already been dealt with.

The Prosecution's case was that on April 19, 2020 at around 11:00pm, Police 
received information that a drug deal was being held at the Puloka’s residence at Hofoa.

The information was that there were several vehicles at the house and that the people at the house were playing pool and that they had illicit drugs on them.

The informer had previously provided the police with information on drug-related offences and in those cases the police had been successful in locating illicit drugs.

Police relied on the information provided to be truthful and 
commenced putting together a search team.

A police officer drove to the area to checked out the information and returned and reported to Officer Malolo Vi that there were many vehicles parked at the residence.

Officer Vi then put together a search team to search the residence without a search warrant.

Tactical Response Group

The Court heard, when the police arrived at the residence, the police officers from the Tactical Response Group (TRG) first went into the compound to secure the area. At the back of the compound there was a trailer where Pulonga lived.

There was another trailer which was occupied by  Na'a and his girlfriend. Next to the two trailers was a shed with a pool table where the police found some of the accused persons and other men playing pool and sitting around the area.

There was also an area near the compound where several vehicles were parked. 
Inside Pulonga's trailer, police found an external hard drive on top of a table inside. The hard drive contained 12 packets of methamphetamine and two packs of cannabis.

The accused were individually searched by the police.

Officer Kalosi Tapueluelu pulled Songo’imoli to a sitting position to search him. He heard the sound of a can dropping and Officer Fifita looked over and saw a can of Eclipse mint candy fall from this accused's chest to the ground. The can was opened and it contained nine packets of methamphetamine.

During the search, the accused, Na'a had just returned from the shop and was standing outside the compound, trying to make his way into the compound.

When he was stopped by the Police he told them that he lived inside the compound. He was then taken inside and detained with the rest of the other accused persons. The Police searched the room where Na'a and his girlfriend lived and found one packet of cannabis inside a black bag and one test tube used for smoking methamphetamine.

Officer Fifita then saw the TRG van enter the front gate and he noticed someone running between two vehicles parked inside the compound.

He then heard someone shout “he is running”, and then another shout “stop Police!".

He then shouted at the other officers to run to the back entrance. He saw Sakopo running towards the back entrance and then changed directions and ran back towards the shed where the other accused persons were being held.

The person he had previously seen run across the two vehicles parked in the compound was 'tall and slim'. Police later found 14 grams of methamphetamine between the two vehicles where he had seen someone and they suspected it was Sakopo's. The judge ruled that the Crown had proven beyond reasonable doubt from the evidence the charges and convicted the four accused namely Puloka, Katoa, Songo'imoli and Na'a of the charges against them.

Acquittal

However, the fifth accused Sakopo was acquitted of his charge.

The judge said, this was because the Crown relied only on the evidence of the police that someone was seen running between the two vehicles and shortly Sakopo was caught and looked to be trying to join the others.

"An inference can be made that he had been the person who had been running between the two vehicles. But is that enough to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he had custody and control over the illicit drugs?"

No one saw Sakopo hold the illicit drugs, no one saw him throw the drugs. Whoever had thrown the drugs between the two vehicles, the Court cannot be satisfied to the criminal standard Sakopoo had physical custody and control of the 14 grams of methamphetamine found in the area, or that he had the required knowledge, said the judge.