By Linny Folau

Fatafehi Tomasi (22) is serving 10 months imprisonment for injuring a passenger, while driving under the influence of alcohol. When his loaded car crashed into another vehicle, after a night out in a bar in the Nuku'alofa CBD, he fled the scene.

Justice Tupou sentenced him on 12 June, after he pleaded guilty at the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa in April.

The offending was on the evening of Friday 23 August 2024, when the defendant was drinking at Ciora Bar with six others. The group included four girls, including the victim Miss Vaka, her sister and others. When the bar closed at around 1:00am that morning, they all loaded up in the defendant’s car and left. Miss Vaka sat on the front passengers lap and the remainder of the group got in the back seat.

The judge stated that the defendant with 1040 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath, got into the driver’s seat and drove. He took a sudden u-turn in the middle of Taufa’ahau Road hitting the rear of a vehicle in front of them travelling northwards on Taufa’ahau Road.

He immediately reversed, overtook that same vehicle and continued northwards to the intersection at the Digicel Square. He turned right onto Wellington Road and sped eastwards towards the intersection meeting Fatafehi Road. At this time, the second victim, Taufa Tu’a was driving northwards with his wife and child on Fatafehi Road. As he was driving through the intersection where Fatafehi Road and Wellington converge, the defendant struck the front left of his RAV 4 vehicle, damaging both the front and back door of that vehicle.

The defendant and three of his passengers instantly fled the scene. Miss Vaka was in pain and was eventually taken to the hospital, where an x-ray that night revealed her right femur was fractured.

At around 1:40am, the defendant was arrested, where an evidential breath test was conducted with a reading of 1040 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath. He was arrested and charged accordingly. During his police interview he admitted to the offending that he took a U-turn and hit the vehicle in the process; that he failed to stop to check the vehicle he hit and he fled the scene, she stated.

The Crown highlighted the aggravating features was the seriousness of the offending, the excessive alcohol in him at the time of the offending, he drove dangerously a loaded vehicle, he fled the scene after being told Ms Vaka was injured and the pain and suffering caused to the victim. In his favour as mitigating factors was his early guilty plea, being a first time offender and settling the repairs to Mr Tu’a’s RAV 4, gaining his forgiveness, and his youth.

The judge stated that in the Victim Impact Report, Miss Vaka as a result of her injuries was hospitalised for two months. She went through surgery to have a rod inserted into her right leg. She was bedridden for two more months before she could attempt walking again. She is still recovering and walking has not returned to normal. She is unable to perform any physical labour and is limited to simple menial tasks and has a long thick scar along almost full length of her right thigh as a result of her surgery that she may carry for the rest of her life.

The second victim Taufa Tu’a whom the defendant hit at the intersection on Fatafehi and Wellington road stated that the defendant’s family paid for all repairs to his vehicle, after the accident. He accepted the defendant’s apology and had forgiven him. The defendant was also reported to be remorseful and claimed that he had apologized to Miss Vaka, which she accepted.

The pre-sentencing report said that Tomasi is from Ma’ufanga, Tongatapu, and is married with three children and expecting his fourth child. His wife and children live in Australia where they met and married. The defendant is in Tonga so he can apply for his partner visa. He is a first-time offender and is healthy.

In considering the factors the judge said that other than the fact that no death was caused, this was a case involving extremely high level of culpability and had it not been for the indicative sentencing submissions, she would have fixed a starting point at 5 years’ imprisonment.

“While the court is not bound by the Crown’s indicative sentencing submissions, it is only fair that expectations of defendants who plead guilty are not scorned. For that reason, I fix a starting point of four and half years imprisonment.”

Partial suspension

The judge stated that for the defendant's early guilty plea, clean record, his full reparations for Mr Tu’a and his clemency and partial reparation offered to Miss Vaka, two years was deducted from the starting point, leaving a final sentence of two and half years’ imprisonment.

“The defendant is young, has a previous good record and cooperated with the police. For those reasons I consider the defendant is more likely than not to take the opportunity offered by a suspended sentence to rehabilitate himself. I am told that he has quit drinking alcohol since the offending, demonstrating he is taking an active role toward rehabilitation. I have also taken into account that it was open to Miss Vaka to take another vehicle or not to have chosen on the night in question to get into the defendant’s overloaded car and or sit on her friend’s lap without the necessary safety restraint. It would have served her well to distance herself from that situation, ” Justice Tupou said.

The judge convicted and sentenced the accused to two and half years’ imprisonment. The final 20 months was suspended for two years on conditions, which includes being disqualified from holding or applying for a driver’s licence, during the term of his suspended sentence.

Failure to comply with the conditions may result in the suspension being rescinded, in which case, the defendant will be required to complete the balance of his prison term.

He is now serving 10 months imprisonment.