Offender who hid meth in matchbox sentenced [1]
Monday, November 15, 2021 - 17:52. Updated on Monday, November 15, 2021 - 17:54.
Tevita 'Osaiasi Matangi was sentenced to nine-months imprisonment for possession of 1.22 grams of methamphetamine, found with him inside a taxi at Longolongo.
Hon. Mr Justice Copper sentenced him at the Nuku’alofa Supreme Court, after he pleaded guilty on October 21.
The defendant was in a taxi on September 10, 2018 and his journey was diverted to the Hufanga taxi base at Longolongo, where police needed to speak to him in connection with a separate allegation.
The judge said when a detective approached the defendant and detained him, the officer noticed him try to hide something under the car seat. A matchbox was found with six packets of methamphetamine inside.
A further packet was recovered from this person; in total he had possession of seven packets of methamphetamine weighing a total of 1.22 grams, he said.
The defendant was arrested, and interviewed and he admitted the offence.
"The court approached the sentencing exercise by considering comparable sentences passed recently in the Supreme Court. In considering those cases the court concluded that the right sentence was one of nine-months' imprisonment suspended for 18-months."
The judge also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs.