Machete attacker gets lengthy jail time [1]
Sunday, June 19, 2022 - 16:34. Updated on Sunday, June 19, 2022 - 16:35.
By Linny Folau
Kaumavae Fakaanga (35) was sentenced to seven-years imprisonment for causing grievous bodily harm, when he injured a man with a machete at Tokomololo in 2021.
As a result of his injuries, the 44-year-old complainant Sosefo Tu'akoi's hand was amputated.
Lord Chief Justice Whitten QC sentenced him last month at the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa. The defendant changed his plea to guilty only onf 15 March this year, after the Crown closed its case at his trial.
On 7 May 2021, the complainant was drinking kava at the Church of Tonga hall at Tokomololo with others.
He said the defendant was also there drinking alcohol with others. Later in the evening, those who had been drinking alcohol with the defendant left.
The defendant remained behind whilst the kava drinking continued. After a while, three young men joined the kava session. One of them asked the defendant for a drink of his beer. The defendant became angry and started challenging others to fight.
Sosefo intervened and sat the defendant beside him, telling him to calm down. However, the defendant ran outside and said that he would come back with a knife.
Sosefo had some experience of the defendant's violence and expected the defendant to return with a knife as he had threatened. So Sosefo grabbed a baseball bat, which was behind the door of the hall.
Sosefo looked back and saw the defendant swinging the machete down onto his head. Sosefo raised his left hand to shield himself. The machete struck his elbow
The complainant was as taken to Vaiola hospital with lacerations to his left arm and scalp, broken bones and nerve damage. The palm of his hand later became infected. As a result of his injuries, Sosefo required surgery during which his left hand had to be amputated, he said.
He was hospitalised for about two months and had to attend clinic appointments.
Meanwhile, the defendant had previous convictions.
The Lord Chief Justice having regarded the statutory maximum penalty; the seriousness of the offending; repeated use of a machete and the very significant injuries inflicted on the complainant including the loss of his hand, considered that the starting point of seven and a half years imprisonment.
“I am ambivalent about any discount for the defendant's very late guilty plea for two reasons.
“Firstly, the change of plea only came after the close of the Prosecution case inwhich the evidence against the Defendant was overwhelming. The only issue raised during that evidence was whether there was some element of provocation.
“Secondly, the defendant engaged a similar tactic in his last trial,” he said.
"Notwithstanding, on the assumption that by his change of plea, the defendant belatedly acknowledged responsibility for his actions, and taking into account that he was not legally represented, I will reduce the above starting point by six-months, resulting in a sentence of seven-years imprisonment."
He said there was one factor, which militated in favour of some suspension was since his last conviction in 2013, the defendant has married and now has two young children.
"Even though he let them down terribly by behaving as he did on the night in question,the defendant's family presents some cause for hope that he will take the opportunity of a partly suspended sentence to rehabilitate for good."
The Lord Chief Justice then suspended the final year of the seven-years sentence for two-years on conditions.
He is now serving six-years at Hu'atolitoli Prison.