The student who has been accused of staging a Facebook post to compliment her for returning a missing wallet with TOP$1,000 allegedly belonging to the Free Wesleyan Church President, has come forward.
Leona Fungatao, a student at Liahona High School, shared a photo of herself with President Dr Tevita Havea and his wife this evening, after she had been accused of not telling the truth.
She seemed apologetic, but stop short of admitting that the post was apparently fake.
The meeting comes after the controversial post apparently portrayed Dr Havea as writing to the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints’ Liahona High School principal, thanking him for Funganitao’s honesty.
According to the post Dr Havea allegedly said they were at one of the restaurants in Nuku’alofa.
Unbeknown to him and his wife, his wallet fell off before the girl who was at the scene at the time discovered it and returned it to him, the post read.
The wallet allegedly contained TOP$1,000, and the President reportedly gifted the girl $100, but she did not accept it.
The post praised the girl for having the courage to share her spiritual experience about the Mormon Church and the Lord Jesu Christ with the couple during the alleged handover of the wallet.
“She was so brave kene share kiate kimaua fekau’aki mo e ‘Alo ko Sisu Kalaisi mo ‘ene ongoongolelei kae pehe kihe fakalelei a Kalaisi”, the post read.
The post ended with Dr Tevita Havea’s name as signatory.
It has been widely shared on Facebook which racked up hundreds of reactions and shares.
Commenters on Facebook had a variety of reactions to the discovery, ranging from the wary to the wondrous.
“Wonderful words from the President of FWC church,” one said.
“We need students like this girl”, said another.
Some, however, were suspicious and questioned the post’s authenticity, saying it did not reflect the type of logical writing the President normally had.
Kaniva News reported this morning that the President told local reporters he did not write the post.
He said he was thankful that the post was attempting to send out a good message to the community.
“But I did not write it, and my wife and I have never been to a restaurant as shown in the post,” he said.
After the president denied the post, Funganitao reportedly insisted on Facebook that she stood by her post. She also agreed to go live on Facebook with the President to prove her side of the story.
However, she suddenly posted a photo of herself with the President and his wife, Mele Havea, later this evening.
The caption accompanying the photo provided no further details about their meeting, except to say that the issue had been resolved.
It implied that she had finally confirmed that she had mistaken Dr Havea for the person she meant.
