A new Supreme Court judge, Hon Justice Nicholas Cooper was today welcomed in a ceremony, which also farewelled Hon Acting Justice Langi at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court.

Hon. Justice Cooper comes from the United Kingdom, where he is a member of 15 New Bridge Chambers, a set of barristers dedicated to all aspects of criminal law. He has also practised extensively in criminal defence and more recently as a Level 3 prosecutor with specialised in areas including 
financial crime, large scale Class A drug supply by criminal gangs and corruption by public officials.

Lord Chief Justice Whitten QC said, at a time when the world is largely paralysed and heavily disrupted by Covid-19, Justice Cooper packed up his life in London, said goodbye to his family and travelled for two-months halfway around the world in order to take up his appointment here in Tonga.

"We thank you in advance for your commitment to serve the Kingdom in upholding the rule of law and assisting in the administration of justice."

Hon Justice Cooper responded that he hopes to make his contribution to Tonga.

He said as people and individuals, wonderful things can happen when we come, live and work together because this is where we can pool our knowledge, experience bringing the best out of us all.

At the same time, he expressed his gratitude to his family, among others and entities who have supported him throughout, especially leading him to this opportunity to come to Tonga.

"I hope to contribute to your lives, community in this Kingdom."

War against drugs

The Chief Justice also acknowledged Hon Acting Justice Langi's contribution in handling criminal case loads at the Supreme Court. She now returns to the Magistrate's Court.

"Like so many countries around the world, Tonga remains in the grip of very serious challenges posed by illicit drugs."

He said the then state of the relevant legislation, which had traditionally been interpreted as requiring all class A drug offences to be dealt with by the Supreme Court, and the exponential increase in the numbers of new methamphetamine cases being referred to the Court meant that, without additional judicial resources, delays between arraignment and trial would stretch from many months to many years.

"The war on drugs continues and the Courts too continue to play their part in endeavouring to protect all the people of Tonga."

A/J Langi was appointed by HM in Council as an Acting Judge principally to help deal with those cases. Such appointments have been extremely rare in Tonga, even more so in recent decades.

“Her appointment was, in some respects an experiment. It was also designed as an opportunity to equip Tongan practitioners or Magistrates, as the case may be, with experience in serving as a Supreme Court judge in preparation for a time when the Supreme Court Bench can,” he said.

Over the past six-months, she has heard, determined and otherwise disposed of 40 Supreme Court criminal cases.

"But it is not only the volume of work by which Her Honour’s service is to be measured, and our depthless gratitude, it is also the quality of those judgments."

“Her ground-breaking work on new developments in Tongan criminal jurisprudence, such as the legal implications following the recent introduction of the ‘TruNarc’ drugs analysis devices, has with respect, been exemplary,” he said.