SIONE Talia'uli, who is currently serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his four year old son last year, will have a retrial after winning an appeal today on the grounds of miscarriage of justice.

After Talia'uli was found guilty by a jury the sentencing judge recommended that he serve a minimum of 35 years before being considered for parole release.

The appeal was against that conviction and sentence.

The Court of Appeal in their judgment today allowed his appeal concluding that there was a miscarriage of justice and agreed that the sentencing judge Justice Shuster had not properly put the defence case during his summing up to the jury.

They ordered that the guilty conviction and life imprisonment sentence be set aside and ordered that the case be remitted to the Supreme Court for retrial.

The boy (4), a twin, died after his father had beaten him over two days on September 4 and 6, 2009 with a broomstick and then a knotted power cord. The punishment appeared to have commenced after he kept crying for food. On the second occasion the beating went on from early in the evening until around midnight.

Counsel for the appellants was Mr Tu'utafaiva.

Appeal Court Judgments

The appeals during this session were Talia'uli v Rex; Tafea and Veikoso v Rex; Liou v Rex; Aukafolau v ANZ; Ilaisaane Tupou v Lisiate Fonua Fukofuka; Principal Immigration Officer v Narayan and Ricoh Tonga Ltd and Hatch v Solicitor General, Crown Law Department.

Of the remaining seven appeal cases heard before the second session of the Court of Appeal, four appeals were allowed, two were dismissed while one agreed to resolve the matter by an order.

The second session of the Tonga Court of Appeal 2010 concluded in Nuku'alofa Supreme Court today with the delivery of judgments.