Solomone Fualalo (52) received a suspended sentence for common assault and serious causing bodily harm, when he hit a 23-year-old victim on the back of his head with a torch at Niutoua.

On 1 November, Hon. P. Tupou KC sentenced him to one-year and nine-months imprisonment at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court, after he pleaded guilty to three charges.

The judge said on 24 March this year, Tomasi Vea, the victim, was working a shift at the Community Patrol Volunteer base at Niutoua from 6:00pm to midnight.

The defendant arrived at the base at around 8:00pm. The victim was seated on a bucket used for kava and food while playing a game of cards with the others on his shift. The defendant told the victim to get off the bucket and when he did not do so, the defendant slapped him on the back of his head, walked away and returned to slap him on the head again.

The victim told him he had no right to touch him. The defendant grabbed a torch and tried to hit him with it but missed. The defendant walked away and returned again with the torch and hit the left side of the victim's head causing him to become unconscious.

He was rushed to the Kolonga District Hospital, where the medical officer described the victim's condition on arrival as suffering from a linear longitudinal laceration (3-4 inches long and 1-2cm wide) on the left occipital area of the scalp, with swelling, blood gushing from the wound and the subject area tender to touch. 

The victim was in a lot of pain and was experiencing dizziness on arrival. He had blood stains all over his knee, forehand and neck, said the judge.

Two-weeks prior to the offending, the victim said, that the defendant had assaulted him with a shovel from which he sustained swelling in his hand. 

He did not report that incident but from that perceived that the defendant had ill feelings towards him. He intended to report the present assault, but a Police report was lodged by the hospital before he could. 

Due to the injuries sustained to his head, he suffers from persistent headaches if he 'over-works' and must refrain from doing too much work. He has been given pain killers and medication for it. 

The defendant's submissions focused on his early guilty plea and his genuine remorse.

Exeptional circumtances

The judge said “whether any or all of the total sentence is suspended, the defendant is not young, he has no relevant previous record and has largely lived his 52 years of life, crime free, he cooperated with the police from the beginning and I am persuaded that he will use any suspended portion of his sentence to rehabilitate himself.

“The Crown correctly highlighted the attitude of the court to defendants who rely on the 'breadwinner submission' and suggested that the defendant's fourth sister residing in Tonga should take over the defendant's role in the family, if he is incarcerated.”

The judge said the poignant element in this case was the four vulnerable women that are dependent on the defendant and his wife.

"I have given this much thought and careful consideration and I have concluded that any period of incarceration for the defendant will impose grave hardship on them and his wife. His wife will find herself single-handedly caring for her mother-in-law and 3 sisters-in-law on her own as well as fulfilling the role of providing crops and food to maintain them.

“If the defendant was responsible for only his elderly mother or had the sisters not been blind, I would have considered a partial suspension here."

“The defendant's circumstances are exceptional, his good standing, his remorse and the victim's full recovery justify suspending the sentence in full and imposing orders for community service as in Finau, said the judge.

His one-year nine-months sentence was suspended for two-years on conditions.