Results for ruling

A Crown application was granted to appeal against the sentencing of Falakiko ‘Asisi Mafi (43) on the grounds that it was manifestly inadequate for reckless driving, causing the death of his Fijian wife.

Vola Tuaimeitu’a (59) has been found not guilty and acquitted on charges relating to the importation of firearms without a license. The firearms were seized in a crate, which arrived from the United States in January, 2020. The judge said "The defendant did everything in his power to get a licence in a timely way.”

The trial against current Cabinet Minister ‘Akosita Lavulavu and her husband 'Etuate Lavulavu is going ahead, after a Supreme Court judge ruled there is a criminal case to answer against both of them on all three counts. They are jointly charged with obtaining over $500,000 pa'anga by false pretences, relating to a number of irregularities in an audit at the ‘Unuaki ‘o Tonga Royal Institute. It is alleged that the couple knowingly falsified student applications in order to claim TVET grants.

A 45-year-old man was convicted of stabbing another man three times with a knife during a verbal confrontation at Fatai. He will be sentenced on May 25, at the Supreme Court.

Rizvi Jurangpathy whose employment contract was terminated by Tonga Communications Corporation in 2017, was awarded $165,000 pa'anga in damages by the Lord Chief Justice, who found he was subjected to unfair treatment when he was under investigation for the allegations against him. The employer had relied on “inaccurate and inadequate” information and breached its obligations.

A Sri Lankan national Vaseeth Samsudeen has been ordered to leave Tonga or face deportation back to Sri Lanka. He received a fully suspended sentence, after using a forged French passport in Tonga earlier this year.

Three men who were acquitted of manslaughter, due to lack of evidence offered by the Crown, pleaded guilty to a lesser count of common assault in the death of a man in Pelehake, in 2017.