A six-year-old girl was rescued by passers-by after a man forced her into the public toilets at Talamahu Market on April 4, in broad daylight in the busiest part of the Tongan capital.

After hearing the little girl's cries, bystanders smashed down a door in the men's toilets, and fought the girl's abductor, before he was arrested by the police.

A 28-year-old man remained in custody until April 6, when he appeared in the Police Magistrate's Court charged with indecent assault, and the possession and the drinking of homebrew. The defendant pleaded guilty to the possession and the drinking of homebrew. He was remanded in custody to appear in the Police Magistrate's Court on April 7, when the defendant who had not been able to secure a legal counsel, was further remanded in custody to appear in court on April 14.

The Crown Prosecutor Mema Latu told the court that the police intended to lay further charges against the defendant. The defendant had recently been released from jail.