Results for common assault

Afimeimo’unga Hola, who assaulted two rugby officials at a rugby game, where his team was losing, was sentenced to two years six months imprisonment, which was fully suspended. “What you did in a burst of temper has thrown away all the good work that you had been doing and the confidence and trust which others placed on you," the Lord Chief Justice Bishop said in sentencing him on 2 May in the Supreme Court, Nuku’alofa.

Three men were found guilty on charges including serious housebreaking and unlawful imprisonment of another man, when they took him by force from his home at Sopu to Kahana Resort on Tongatapu because of a disputed loan of $150,000. One of the defendants was armed with a knife.

Kali Malupo (57) who was convicted of grievous bodily harm, when he struck a 24-year-old man on the head using a machete at Manuka on eastern Tongatapu, was sentenced to six and a half-years imprisonment, while his two sons received a lesser jail sentence for common assault in a group attack on the victim. The judge said their attacks “revealed levels of anger and violence going far beyond...argument of self-defence.” For Kali “the clear intention was to kill Filihai Li.”

Two former police officers who are in jail for common assault, after they punched and kicked a defenceless 21-year-old in Vava’u, will not be allowed to appeal their sentences. President of the Appeal Court, Lord Chief Justice Whitten, in his ruling on 12 December rejected their applications, as they had no reasonable prospects of success.

Viliami Halalilo and Tukumo’ui Havea have been found guilty of common assault, when they punched and kicked a 21-year-old victim in Neiafu, Vava’u. “They indulged in sheer hooliganism and behaviour and not keeping with the dignity and high standards of the Tongan Police Force,” said the Supreme Court judge.

Salesi Vea (29) was re-sentenced and jailed for four-months for assaulting his wife at Te'ekiu, after a Supreme Court judge quashed his suspended sentence imposed in the lower court. The judge said the initial sentence was manifestly inadequate as it failed to properly take into account the level of violence and that there had been repeated assaults by Vea against his wife.

Lord Tu'iha'ateiho is expected to appear at the Nuku'alofa Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 15 August on numerous charges including common assault, unlawful imprisonment and possession of unlicensed ammunition in relation to a public disturbance earlier this year.