By Linny Folau

Mo’unga Koluse (45) was sentenced to six-months imprisonment fully suspended for reckless driving causing harm to a man, after he ran over his foot with a police vehicle, when he responded to an incident at Kelana rugby field in Vava’u.

Magistrate Loupua Pahulu-Kuli sentenced him on 26 October at the Vava’u Magistrates Court, after he pleaded guilty to the charge. He was a police officer residing at Fungamisi, who had been suspended due to this case.

The Magistrate in her sentencing, said from the summary of facts, the offence was on 19 August 2023, while he was on duty and attended to an incident at the rugby field, where boys were reported to have been disorderly and allegedly under the influence of alcohol within this area.

When the defendant was driving back he saw a group of boys, that included the complainant Fe’ofa’aki Vaomotou, walking on the right side of the road heading from Kelana to Neiafu.

The defendant then quickly swerved his vehicle onto the left side of the road facing where the boys were walking from. This caused the boys to jump to the other side to avoid the vehicle, except for the complainant who was slow to avoid the vehicle resulting in his right foot being run over by the police vehicle.

The complainant fell to the ground and yelled out to the defendant that he ran over his foot but the defendant said, “hurry up and disperse from here” before driving off.

Injured

The court then heard that the complainant was transported in another vehicle to the hospital, despite the other boys yelling out to the defendant that the complainant was injured and to take him to the hospital. The attending doctor confirmed the complainant’s injuries were due to his foot being run over by a vehicle. There was no fracture but he sustained soft tissue injuries, that included two of his toe nails being removed, stated the Magistrate.

The Prosecution stated the aggravating factors included the defendant having a previous conviction from 22-years ago, being a police officer in which his duties included safeguarding people’s lives, and his driving at the time was reckless considering the circumstances at this area.

The Prosecution also submitted that the defendant had the intention to cause bodily harm to the complainant due to his reckless driving and not stopping to help.

Mitigating factors for the defendant were that he had served 18-years as a police officer, his deep remorse and apology to the complainant, which was accepted, as well as paying a compensation of $300.

The defendant also submitted letters in his support, which included one from ASP ‘Otuhouma which highlighted his good police work in Neiafu, including that with the Domestic Violence Unit. Another reference was from Vava’u no. 15 People’s Representative Samiu Vaipulu, where the defendant is from. He vouched that the defendant is an important and reliable member of their community with his contributions.

Suspension

At the same time, the Magistrate, in her sentencing, disagreed with the Prosecution’s submission that the defendant had the intent to cause bodily harm to the complainant, and said as stated in the facts, that he went to the area in response to a call for assistance at the rugby field, due to drunks at the rugby match.

The Magistrate believed that the defendant was negligent in that moment and his timing was wrong, resulting in the injury because if he had the intent to cause bodily harm to the complainant and others who were were walking with him, the injuries could have been more severe and others would have been injured.

The aggravating factor to consider was the fact that he was a police officer and he did not stop to assist after causing the injury to the complainant.

The Court also treated this as his first conviction, as his previous one was from 22-years and was committed before he was a police officer. He was reprimanded for this offence, which was not serious, she said.

The many mitigating factors working on his behalf included his guilty plea at the first opportunity, having no previous conviction, his apology to the complainant which was accepted, compensation of $300 pa’anga and provision of meat, as well as being a good and reliable member to his family, church and community.

The Court then deemed it appropriate to suspend his sentence so that he has the opportunity to learn from what he did and do good things to change his life for the better.

He was sentenced to six-months imprisonment, which was fully suspended for one-year on condition that he must not commit any offences.

The Magistrate also disqualified his driver’s licence and ordered that he wais not qualified to obtain one in the next six-months, as from the date of this sentencing.