Results for From the Courts

The fraud trial against Vava'u People’s Representative to Parliament, ‘Akosita Lavulavu and her husband, a former Cabinet Minister, ‘Etuate Lavulavu, which was to start in September has been delayed.

Lautaimi Tu’itavake (34) of Malapo was sentenced to two-years three-months imprisonment for possession of methamphetamine and cannabis, found on him during his arrest in the Nuku'alofa Central Business District in 2018.

A 44-year-old man was sentenced to one-year nine-months imprisonment, after being convicted in the Supreme Court of making a false statement and dealing with a forged birth certificate in order to obtain a Tongan passport.

A police officer charged in relation to a bribery charge allegedly involving the Sione Filipe Jr. case was released on bail today, July 29.

‘Ofa Savieti (45) received a two-year suspended sentence for forgery when she withdrew $3,000 pa’anga from a fruit picker's bank account and used it on herself, in February last year.

The Minister for Justice has been taken off the no fly list and can travel abroad as of July 19 as approved by the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa.

Simi Moala (28) was found guilty by a jury of reckless driving that caused the death of a five-year-old boy at Tatakamotonga last year.

A 43-year-old man from Matangiake who went into Tonga College grounds carrying an unloaded airgun, after firing it at a bush area to scare students in an incident last year, was fined a total of $1000 by a Supreme Court judge in Nuku'alofa today.

The Crown has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court against a Magistrate's decision, which granted a bail variation to Minister of Justice, allowing him to travel outside of Tonga. The Crown alleges that proper procedure for his application was not carried out according to the law. The Minister who is currently facing criminal charges related to wrongful interference in a cow row, is on bail.