‘Alefosio Vaingaina (44) was sentenced to six-years imprisonment for serious housebreaking and theft of Tongan koloa, valued at around $22,800 from the Royal Palace in Vava'u.

Lord Chief Justice Whitten QC sentenced him today, after finding him guilty in a trial at the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa.

On the morning of 27 October 2017, the royal housekeeper entered the Palace in Neiafu through the kitchen door and noticed that frozen meat had been left out of the fridge. 

She immediately checked the rest of the residence and found that a number of Tongan mats, valued at $22,800 pa'anga were missing. When inspecting the outside of the Palace, the housekeeper found that a number of louvres from the King’s bedroom had been removed. She then reported the matter to the Governor’s office and then the police. 

A police specialist found latent fingerprints on the louvres. The prints were analysed by the Tonga Police Forensics Unit in Nuku'alofa and identified a number as belonging to the defendant. 


The Lord Chief Justice said the expert evidence by the police fingerprint expert was accepted.

During his trial, the defendant also attempted alibi defence, which collapsed when he gave a number of inconsistent versions and his witnesses for that purpose failed to give evidence. 

The defendant has a lengthy criminal record dating from 1992 for robbery, theft, housebreaking among other offences. He had also been jailed numerous times.

The statutory maximum penalty for serious housebreaking is 10-years imprisonment and seven-years for theft. 

"Here, the head offence is the serious housebreaking. It would appear that this is the first published case of housebreaking and theft perpetrated against the Royal family. However, it is not the first case involving the theft of Tongan koloa."

“In addition, there are no mitigating factors in the material before me to warrant any reduction in those starting points. There are no circumstances, which suggest any diminution in culpability. He did not co-operate with the authorities and has not shown any remorse. 


“The only positive factor is that it has now been almost six-years since his last sentence for housebreaking and approximately four and a half-years, since this offending occurred,” he said.

Lord Chief Justice Whitten then sentenced him to six-years imprisonment.

He also rescinded a one-year suspended sentence from a Magistrate's Court proceedings, making it a total of seven-years imprisonment.

“The only positive factor is that it has now been almost six-years since his last sentence for housebreaking and approximately 4 and a half-years, since this offending occurred,” he said.

The final two-years of the sentence was then suspended for three-years, 
on conditions.

His sentence was also backdated to when he was remanded in custody for this proceeding, excluding the period during which he was mistakenly released from custody in Vava'u prior to his trial. 


Meanwhile, none of the stolen goods have been recovered.