Results for From the Courts

The Supreme Court of Tonga has approved the issuing of death certificates for 50 deceased whose lives were lost in the sinking of the MV Princess Ashika ferry last August.

Sione Vaomotou (36) was acquitted by jurors on a murder charge but found guilty on a lesser charge of the manslaughter of his wife Fotu'aika Vaomotou (25).

Charged with manslaughter by negligence over the death of a young mother, Vae Fetu'u Taufa, in the sinking of the MV Princess Ashika last year, four persons and the Shipping Corporation of Polynesia Ltd. appeared before Magistrate Paula Tatafu at the Fasi Magistrate's Court this morning.

Two 17-year-old burglars who escaped from prison have been spared a sentence of six lashes each with a cat or a rod, imposed by a British judge in Tonga last year, after the Court of Appeal set aside the "cruel and unusual punishment", in a judgment released today.

A 63-year-old father from Fua'amotu was sentenced to seven years in Hu'atolitoli Prison for five counts of incest after he repeatedly committed indecent sexual acts on his own daughter, from 2006 to December 2009.

A 47-year-old man has been charged in Leimatu'a, Vava'u, with manslaughter by negligence relating to the death of an eight-year-old boy who was run over by his vehicle on June 9.

A 42-year-old Customs Officer Tevita Pati Kata was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for the importation and possession of 17.6 kilos of methamphetamine worth NZD$17-18 million, during the largest drug bust of this kind in Tonga, in September last year.

Two men have been charged with armed robbery where two persons were held at gunpoint and robbed of their cash at Tu'imatamoana Wharf on May 29.

A 25-year-old soldier was sentenced to four years imprisonment on June 4 for the attempted rape and indecent assault of a young woman in Tofoa in January earlier this year.