Results for From the Courts

An heir lost his claim in a land dispute against his younger brother and the Minister of Lands. This was after, the Land Court found that when he did not claim it, the land reverted back to the estate holder and there was nothing he could claim as heir.

A 51-year-old man was found guilty of rape, while a 22-year-old was guilty of indecent assault committed on a young girl, under the age of 12 in Tongatapu.

Manase Tonga was convicted on two counts of possession of cannabis and nine .22 rifle ammunitions without a license, during a police search of a vehicle at Sopu.

A prolific thief, Sione Mafi Lolohea (34) was sentenced to seven-years six-months imprisonment for serious housebreaking and theft, when he stole around $19,400 pa'anga worth of heritage koloa in 2019. The judge said the thief had made a life of crime and caused much misery and sorrow to many victims.

‘Aleki Filikitonga (26) was sentenced to one-year six-months imprisonment, which was fully suspended, for theft of $28,000 pa’anga from the Tonga Development Bank branch in 'Eua.

'Ileana Suliana Taulua was found not guilty on five counts of making a false declaration to obtain a Tongan passport at the Supreme Court on June 11. A sixth count of possession of a forged passport was dismissed, after the Crown led no evidence. The Chief Justice also noted that an era within this country to grant passports to non Tongan nationals for considerable sums of money had led to renewals of those passports that caused significant concern.

‘Evona ‘Akau [55] was sentenced to a suspended sentence of 18-months imprisonment, for carrying an excessive number of passengers on the 'Eua ferry MV 'Onemato, in January last year. “Mercifully, there was no tragedy here because, if a life had been lost...more serious charges could have been laid,” said the judge.

A 44-year-old man has been jailed for two-years after he was found guilty on two counts of indecent assault of a teenage girl in 2018. "With the possible exception of the relatively recent rise in serious drug related offences, sexual offences, especially against the young are one of the most damaging ills to the moral and legal integrity of any society," said the Chief Justice.

A 28-year-old man who pleaded guilty to seriously injuring his brother when he hit him with a machete, suffers from mental illness. He was ordered by the Supreme Court to be involuntarily admitted to the Vaiola Hospital Psychiatric Unit, instead of being sentenced.