A 59-year-old Tongan-Chinese woman charged with attempted murder is alleged to have used a pistol to shoot at a 40-year-old Tongan-Chinese man at a farm in Tokomololo on January 29, this year.

The accused Yang Yu Zheng appeared at the Fasi Magistrate's Court today for the start of the Preliminary Inquiry into four charges of attempted murder, possession of an illegal firearm and two charges of possessing illegal ammunitions relating to a pistol and a .22 rifle.

The complainant, a naturalised Tongan, Zheng Feng, alleged in his testimony that on the evening of January 29 he was working at his farm at Tokomololo, which included a piggery, chickens, ducks and vegetables.

He said the accused Yang usually dropped by at the farm to feed the chickens and ducks at around 5-6pm. On this particular day he did not notice the exact time she arrived but only met her after he was finishing some work.

He said the accused started to follow him around and said, "don't do it because you are doing it for nothing,"

"I only knew she was carrying a gun when I heard the gunshot went off and my nephew who was working beside me pushed me aside. He estimated the shot was fired at around 6:40 to 7:00 pm that evening."

The complainant added he turned around and saw the accused whom he identified in court to be holding the gun so he charged towards her, held her hands up in the air and struggled to take the gun from her, and no one got shot.

The complainant Zheng, also identified the firearm was a pistol and alleged two shots was fired by the accused on that day.

Pistol

Policeman Fa'asolo, another witness in the inquiry, was one of the officers who tended to the incident after the complaint was made.

He said upon arrival the complainant told them the accused tried to shoot him while he was bending down to do some work.

But then the accused told the police not to believe what the complainant Zheng said because they were one family and they would obviously support his side of the story because she was the only outsider.

The policemen identified the pistol and bullets retrieved from the night of the crime scene in court.

The inquiry continued to call more witnesses in the afternoon. The Police Magistrate Samiu Palu at the conclusion of the inquiry will decide whether there is a prima facie case for submission to the Supreme Court.