Bruno Latu (27) was sentenced today to three-years imprisonment for 0.17 grams of methamphetamine seized at Havelu in 2020.

Hon Mr Justice Niu sentenced him at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court, after pleading guilty in April.

The offending was on the afternoon of October 25, 2020 when the defendant and Fetokai Manioke were in a blue rental car parked at a plantation in Havelu. He was in the driver's seat and Fetokai was in the front passenger seat.

A police vehicle drove past and saw the defendant's car and decided to check it out. The defendant saw the police vehicle and started his car to get away, and threw something out of the car into the plantation.

The judge said, the police stopped the defendant's car and found what he had thrown into the plantation.

Police found a test tube containing the methamphetamine. The car was later searched and there were two straws, 15 empty packs and one weighing scale found on the floor of the front passenger seat. When Fetokai was searched, there was cash of $1,020 found in his trouser pocket.

The defendant at 12-years-old migrated to New Zealand. He was later involved in dealing in drugs and was deported back in 2020, where he carried on the same thing, until he was caught with this offence.

The judge said, “the defendant has a record of possession of illicit drugs on his own admission to the probation officer that he was deported from New Zealand last year for drug dealing, and although it was an offence in New Zealand and not in Tonga, it is still an offence and you have a record for it.

“You now have committed another offence of possession of illicit drugs here in Tonga. You have also admitted to the probation officer that you have been dealing drugs here in Tonga since you have arrived back in Tonga, by operating a panel beating business as a front and which was financed from the drug operation you ran,” he said.

“In addition, evidence of that operation was found in the rental car the defendant was driving, namely a weighing scale and 15 empty packs for methamphetamine which were found in that car as well as the test tube containing the methamphetamine, which you had thrown out of the car when the police showed up.”

The judge found that his case was a much more serious case than simply having 0.17 grams of methamphetamine in the the accused's possession.

“This case is more like that of R v Puloka who was in possession of an amount of methamphetamine of 4.34 grams, which was clearly for the purpose of supplying. He also operated auto repair workshop at his home as a front for his drug dealing operation,” he said.

In addition, the King and the Legislative Assembly have enacted the Illicit Drugs Control Act, which he breached, to have a heavy penalty in order that illicit drugs are not made, sold, distributed and supplied or possessed by anyone in Tonga.

"At the time you committed this offence, the penalty for your offence was a fine of up to $1,000,000 or imprisonment of up to 30 years. In December last year, that penalty was amended by the King and the Legislative Assembly to enable the Court to sentence offenders to imprisonment for any period short of imprisonment for life."

He said this is how serious and how badly drugs are regarded in Tonga, and the Courts must uphold and apply that law in order that drugs are eradicated from this country.

The defendant was sentenced to three-years imprisonment but with the final year suspended for three-years from the date of his release from prison, on conditions.

The drugs and paraphenalia were ordered to be destroyed by the police.