Results for Supreme Court

In an unanimous verdict this afternoon, a jury found ‘Atonio Moeaki (40) guilty of murdering Dr Sione Feo Lau’i (23). He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Supreme Court judge.

The final submissions by legal counsel in the trial of Sitiveni ‘Esi Muli (17) charged with the murders of a couple, Mr Feng Sheng Pei and Mrs Su Jie Wen was completed today, January 16 at the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa.

Severe lacerations were examined on the heads of murder victims Mr Feng Sheng Pei and Mrs Su Jie Wen, when their bodies were brought into Vaiola Hospital, on February 25, 2018, according to medical evidence presented at the murder trial of Sitiveni ‘Esi Muli (17) today in the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court.

Sitiveni ‘Esi Muli (17) today changed his plea to guilty in regards to two alternative counts of manslaughter in relation to the death of a Chinese couple, Mr Feng Sheng Pei and Mrs Su Jie Wen, who were found with multiple stab wounds at a vegetable plantation on February 25, last year. But the Crown Prosecutor was not satisfied and is continuing with the murder charges.

A 26-year-old man received a fully suspended sentence after being convicted of drugs, firearm and ammunition charges by the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa.

A 20-year-old man was sentenced to 11-years imprisonment after he broke into a house, abducted a girl at night and committed serious indecent assault on the child, in June this year at Navutoka. Lord Chief Justice Paulsen said the offending was truly abhorrent.

Sami Likiliki Fisilau (52) was sentenced to two and a half-years imprisonment after pleading guilty to serious bodily harm and domestic violence committed on his 44-year-old wife in Vaini last year. “Domestic issues are no justification or excuse for violence and domestic abuse will be met with firm penalties," Mr Justice Cato told him.

A single 20-year-old man who was convicted of raping a woman last year in Tongatapu was sentenced to four-years and six-months imprisonment at the Supreme Court in Nuku'alofa.

A stepfather was sentenced to 12 and a half years imprisonment for numerous offences that included serious indecent assault of his two young stepdaughters and raping one of them. The mother (42) who helped him commit some of these serious sexual offences was sentenced to seven years and three months imprisonment. The judge agreed that the offendings constituted a grave breach of trust and the sentence imposed should reflect it.