Results for sentencing

A final warning rang out in Tonga’s Supreme Court as a repeat offender narrowly avoided jail — spared only by a glowing letter from his employer.

Mekiloni Fotu Aso (39) is serving one year in prison for counts that included the cultivation of 63 cannabis plants weighing 427.95 grams and possession of 266.08 grams of cannabis seized at his home in Fua’amotu last year.

Ashok Kumar (58) is serving seven years in prison for one count of trafficking in person, when he lured a 36-year-old woman from Fiji under the pretence of a potential hotel employment opportunity in Nuku’alofa, last year.

Siokatame Kupu (28) is serving six months in prison for possession of drugs utensils found on him in a police drugs operation at Matangiake earlier in May. He had just been released from prison before being sent back to prison for this offence.

Repeat offender, Siosaia Lata Funaki, is serving five years and five months, in prison after pleading guilty to three counts that included theft of meat from a business in Ma’ufanga and armed robbery of a foreigner, who was punched in the mouth before his iPhone and money were stolen.

Sione Lapu’aho (56) is serving 10 months in prison for possession of 130.35 grams of cannabis at Fatai in February this year. He admitted that he was intending to supply the cannabis to others, when he was questioned by police.

Anita Toutai’olepo (45) was sentenced to life imprisonment for the importation of 81.64 grams of methamphetamine, discovered inside a coffee bottle with a plastic-wrapped package in a drum shipped from her father in the United States in 2024.

Viliami Tukumoe’atu (28) is serving one year imprisonment for reckless driving under the influence of alcohol, causing the death of his father in Makaunga in January this year. The accused was driving at up to 140 kilometres per hour, when he struck an oncoming vehicle, lost control and crashed into an electric pole. “In passing sentence, you do not need me to tell you what this tragedy has unfolded,” the Lord Chief Justice said in passing sentence.

‘Oto Langafo’ou Loloa (35) is serving 18 months in prison for two charges that included possession of 1238.71 grams of cannabis leaves and seeds, after police were informed that he was selling from his residence in Fua’amotu.