‘Amusia Mateni was found guilty at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court of possessing 8.08 grams of methamphetamine during a confrontation with a police officer on a road in Ngele'ia. He tried to destroy the illicit drug.

Acting Justice Langi found him guilty on two counts of possession and interfering with the course of justice when he destroyed several packets of methamphetamine by throwing it into a puddle of water.

On March 17, 2019 Police Officer ‘Ahohako stopped to help the accused, whose car had ran out of petrol on the road. As he was helping the accused push the car to the side of the road, he saw a bundle of cash and packs of white powder sticking out from the right pocket of the accused's shorts.

He immediately suspected that the white packets were illicit drugs.

The police officer with his police badge told the accused that he was a police officer.

The confrontation occured, when the accused turned and threw his phone at the officer, and both wrestled with each other. They eventually fell to the ground and continued wrestling in puddles of water. While wrestling, the accused tore the packets with his mouth and dumped the contents in the puddle of water on the road. The police officer managed to grab a few packets from the puddle and threw them onto the road.

Another person helped the police officer detain the accused.

The judge said the evidence against the accused was overwhelming and his attempts to deny the charges against him were weak and simply unbelievable.

"I find beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused was in possession of illicit drugs and he did interfere with evidence."

He was then convicted and is to be sentenced on a date to be confirmed.