A prisoner was rushed to Vaiola hospital before he died on Monday 19.
Heamani Lōpeti, 45, was serving a sentence at Hu’atolitoli prison before he died from a suspected heart attack, a relative who was very close to the deceased claimed.
The notorious prisoner was sent to jail for a number of offences he committed which ranges from armed robbery, causing bodily harm and escaping custody.
Perhaps the most violent crimes he committed included a machete attack on November 2014 which left a son of a prison warden injured.
Lōpeti and a friend entered a house at the Hu’atolitoli compound and attacked the 18-year-old son with the machete. The teenager who was sleeping in the house injured his leg. They left the scene in a rental car they used with valuable mats Police estimated to be TOP$7,200.
The duo were later spotted speeding by a police patrol car prompting a pursuit that ended after the accused car hit a tree on Taufa’ahau Rd.
Lōpeti was at the time a prisoner but was on a weekend leave while the incident happened.
Tributes have flooded in for Lōpeti with relatives saying people never knew about the good side of his life.
“You came and stayed with me in my apartment in 1993 and you helped babysitting my son. You just turned up recently at my office and told me you have changed and accepted Jesus,” a commenter wrote on Facebook.
“You bragged you were from Nomuka and said that you have changed and now I understand what you meant,” another commenter wrote.
A priest who wrote that he taught Lopeti at high school said he would offer a Mass in his memory.
The Prison Department was contacted for comment.
