By Linny Folau

Tulapa Samoa Pese (38) was sentenced to three-years imprisonment for causing serious bodily harm to a 22-year-old man with a machete at Lapaha.

Acting Lord Chief Justice Afeaki sentenced him on January 21, at the Nuku’alofa Supreme Court.

On December 2, 2021 the day of his trial, he changed his plea to guilty. He was not a first time offender.

Offence 

On 20 March 2021, the victim and Lapaha resident Ringo Halafihi were drinking with a few others at a cemetery beside a road in Lapaha, in the eastern district of Tongatapu. 

The Acting LCJ said, while they were drinking, three others joined them and the victim asked a person named, 'Uli, why they had beaten up his father at some earlier time. Before the victim finished asking his question, 'Uli punched him and ran off. 

A fight broke out and the others fled except for the victim and another man called Mani. 

“I have only received scant details of this fight; how much damage if any was done to whom by whom, but what is established is that there was a fight, blows were exchanged, some participants left and then later on, 'Uli came back with the defendant. Violence led to further violence.” 

He said the police summary of facts then stated that the victim and Mani stayed on and resumed drinking.

Came back

Later on, a car pulled up to the cemetery with the defendant and 'Uli inside. The victim and Mani went over to talk to them while they sat in the car. They then drove off in the car and the victim and Mani walked back to the cemetery.

While they were still there, the defendant and 'Uli returned, this time by foot. They walked up towards the victim and the defendant struck the victim on his forehead with the blunt side of a machete. 


At the same time 'Uli was holding a knife and advanced with it towards Mani, who ran away. 

The defendant hit the victim again on the back of the head with the machete where he suffered a 10cm (approximately 4 inches) long cut, he said.

“To have hit the victim in the back of his head means that the defendant slashed at the victim while he was turned away from him and was most likely trying to escape from the man hitting him with the machete.”

The victim managed to get away and ran to his house. 

Due to bleeding from his head wound, the victim was rushed to the hospital and the doctor who treated him later reported that he sustained a laceration to the occipital part of his scalp, which the doctor reported as having 10cmx5cm dimensions.

“This is a wide, deep cut. A piece of his skull had been chipped right off by the blow, although there was no fracture, which is probably sheer blessed luck, given the force needed to cut through the scalp and chip off a piece of his skull bone,” he said. “In this case, I am only relieved that although the victim was badly injured and hospitalised for three or four days (he cannot remember precisely how long), that he was not blinded, crippled or killed.”

In addition, the narrative of events showed significant premeditation by the defendant. 

“Having come by car to the scene, he scoped the size, numbers and condition of the people at the drinking set, and then drove away. Later he and another returned with weapons and used them to attack. 

“This showed the defendant carefully calculated and planned his attack. It was not a 'spur of the moment' attack,” he said.

“The way he carried out the attack is also chilling in that the defendant and his colleague concealed their weapons when they returned and once they were within striking distance, in effect ambushed the victim and his friend striking them, causing immediate shock, pain and fear and effectively not leaving them any chance to defend themselves.

“This is not only brutal; it is a cowardly behaviour to attack an unarmed person in this way.”

The defendant was then sentenced three-years imprisonment. Upon release he will be placed on probation for one-year, among other orders.