The murder trial of Nakita Folau Tu‘’itavake (40), opened before Chief Justice Robin Webster at the Nuku‘alofa Supreme Court yesterday, February 14.

Tu‘’itavake is alleged to have stabbed to death Semisi Ma‘’u (20) in a parking lot on the Nuku‘alofa waterfront, opposite the Billfish Bar on the evening of September 5, 2003.

The case was scheduled to be heard in September 2004 but Chief Justice Webster postponed the hearing and ordered that a song titled, 'Semisi Ma‘u', the name of the deceased, not tbe played in any radio stations in Tonga. He then set a new date for a jury trial from February 14-18, 2005.

A seven-member jury was selected yesterday morning from the villages of Vaini, Tokomololo and Tofoa.

The legal counsel for the Crown Linda Simiki, told the jurors in her opening address that if they do not find the defendant guilty of murder, there are two other charges that the defendant can be indicted upon and that is manslaughter and grevious bodily harm.

The Crown will be calling 14 witnesses.

The legal counsel for the defendant is Laki Niu.