Results for From the Courts

Fili Napa’a (31) was sentenced to 18-months imprisonment partially suspended for charges including possession of 329.98 grams of cannabis at Veitongo in March this year.

Sione Katoa (29) was sentenced to 21-months imprisonment with parts suspended for numerous charges that included possession of illicit drugs, namely 0.65 grams of methamphetamine at Veitongo.

The 12th defendant to be sentenced for being involved in distributing a portion of a salvaged shipment of cocaine washed up in Vava'u in 2021, was sentenced five and a half-years' imprisonment, partially suspended, for engaging in dealings with another person to transfer a Class A illicit drug to Tongatapu.

Two Police officers, Penitiketo Latu and Taliai Tapueluelu, were found guilty of causing serious bodily harm to a young soldier (19), whom they kicked on the mouth, fracturing his jaw using their police boots, as he lay defenceless and unconscious, on the floor of the Neiafu Police Station, in Vava’u in 2021.

Liuaki Fainu (23) who was sentenced to two-years six-months imprisonment, for dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm to a police officer in Vava’u had his sentence fully suspended on conditions. The officer who suffered a broken leg, in December 2022, awaits bone reconstruction experts from Australia next month who will operate to re-connect his fractured femur.

‘Akosita Lavulavu’s application to the courts for leave to appeal against a ruling by Acting Justice Langi, was refused in Nuku’alofa. Justice Randerson stated he had no hesitation in concluding that this appeal had no merit. There was nothing to suggest the judge will not deal with the case fairly, objectively and in accordance with her judicial oath, he said.

Mo’unga Koluse (45) was sentenced to six-months imprisonment fully suspended for reckless driving causing harm to a man, after he ran over his foot with a police vehicle, when he responded to an incident at Kelana rugby field in Vava’u.

Kali Malupo (57) who was convicted of grievous bodily harm, when he struck a 24-year-old man on the head using a machete at Manuka on eastern Tongatapu, was sentenced to six and a half-years imprisonment, while his two sons received a lesser jail sentence for common assault in a group attack on the victim. The judge said their attacks “revealed levels of anger and violence going far beyond...argument of self-defence.” For Kali “the clear intention was to kill Filihai Li.”

The re-trial of multiple charges against former government ministers, ‘Etuate and ‘Akosita Lavulavu, is adjourned to start on 30 October, after Acting Justice Langi rejected a proposal that it be deferred to early 2024, at the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa, citing various reasons for urgency to proceed.