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Results for From the Courts

Friday 15 April 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Parents of an eight-months old infant, who died after no medical treatment was sought in 2014, were acquitted of manslaughter by negligence and an alternative count of willful neglect of a child on 8 April, by a Supreme Court judge who considered that all concerned were victims of poverty. "The circumstances of the case are tragic," he said.
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Friday 15 April 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A 16-years imprisonment sentence was imposed on a man who had pleaded guilty to multiple counts of having carnal knowledge and indecently assaulting two girls who were under the age of 12 in 2014. The security of young children in Tonga is paramount here, said Mr Justice Cato on 7 April, at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court.
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Monday 11 April 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Ousted Member of Parliament, Mateni Tapueluelu, has successfully appealed against a declaration made by Lord Chief Justice Paulsen that resulted in him being removed from Parliament in December last year. The Court of Appeal of Tonga overturned the decision on Friday April 8.
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Monday 4 April 2016

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga’s Chief Justice has quashed a decision by the Minister of Public Enterprises, Hon. Poasi Tei, to end the terms of two directors of the Tonga Broadcasting Commission who had refused to resign from the board voluntarily. The Supreme Court’s ruling also exposed a failure of the government in “a duty of candour” to disclose all relevant facts and the content of its decision making process.
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Friday 1 April 2016
Washington State, USA
A Tongan woman has been jailed by a US court for sexually abusing and prostituting her 6 year-old daughter.
1 comment
Tuesday 29 March 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga's Court of Appeal first session this year began at the Nuku’alofa Supreme Court on Tuesday, 29 March to end with the delivery of judgments on Friday, 8 April. An appeal by Mateni Tapueluelu a former Tongatapu MP who lost his parliamentary seat last year will be heard this week.
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Thursday 24 March 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
An appeal by ‘Etuate Lavulavu against a Supreme Court ruling that found he committed bribery will not be heard until the second session of Tonga's Court of Appeal in September later this year.
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Thursday 17 March 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The Tonga Court of Appeal's first session will be held from March 29 to April 8 and will hear an appeal by former Tongatapu No. 4 People’s Representative to Parliament, Mateni Tapueluelu.
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Wednesday 16 March 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga’s Supreme Court allowed breath test results taken at a police station to be considered as evidence in the trial of a driver who drove under the influence of alcohol and killed a woman with his vehicle on January 1, New Year's Day 2015 at Ma’ufanga.
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Thursday 10 March 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Payment of a settlement for an undisclosed amount of money to Audra Watts, the widow of Kali Fungavaka, will be made from the Tonga Attorney General’s Office, who will also supervise the setting up of a trust for the benefit of the victim’s children by his first wife.
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Thursday 10 March 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A primary school teacher who admitted five counts of indecent assault on boys under the age of 12, in humiliating assaults and violations using bananas, was sentenced to a total of one year and 10 months in jail, with one year suspended.
1 comment
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Wednesday 9 March 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Samuela Holani (22) was sentenced to four-years and nine months imprisonment for the rape of a woman at home in Nuku'alofa, in July last year. "A woman is entitled to expect she is safe in her house from predatory sexual offending,” said the judge in passing sentence.
1 comment
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Monday 7 March 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga is to pay an unspecified amount to the family of the late Kali Fungavaka who was killed in Tonga in 2012 while in police custody, after a deed of settlement was reached by the Crown and the estate of the late Kali Fungavaka who was killed in Tonga in 2012, after a Supreme Court declaration on Thursday, 3 March in Nuku'alofa.
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Thursday 11 February 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
The Chief Justice dismissed an application by Mateni and Lautala Tapueluelu for a transfer to the Supreme Court of a civil proceeding for defamation brought against them by the CEO of Tonga Communications Corporation (TCC). The case will remain to be heard by the Magistrate's Court
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Saturday 6 February 2016
Sisi Pale (34) has been sentenced to serve a combined imprisonment sentence of six and a half-years for robbery and rape of a woman who was home alone at Sopu during a group break-in on June 10, 2014.
1 comment
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Saturday 6 February 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tevita ‘Ahoafi was sentenced to four-years imprisonment on Friday, 5 February for the manslaughter death of his paternal grand-uncle whom he killed in 2013 when he repeatedly struck him with a metallic pipe and a piece of wood at Ha’avakatolo, Tongatapu.
1 comment
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Friday 29 January 2016

Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Tonga’s troubled Cabinet minister ‘Etuate Lavulavu today lost his disputed seat in Parliament when Lord Chief Justice O. G. Paulsen declared his election on November 27, 2014, as the People’s Representative for the Vava’u No. 16 Electoral District to be void.
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Thursday 28 January 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Lokoua Taufahema (42) was sentenced to 12-years imprisonment for the manslaughter death of his wife who died from severe burns when in a cruel act he poured hot cooking oil on her at Navutoka in December, 2014.
2 comments
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Wednesday 20 January 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Sio Vaka (19) has been charged with murder in the death of a 36-year-old man, Lipine Fakatene, whom he allegedly stabbed during a fight in Fua’amotu on Sunday night, 17 January.
2 comments
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Monday 18 January 2016
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Eleven people have been charged so far by Tonga Police in an ongoing investigation into alleged forgery and illegal issuance of Tongan passports.
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