A man in his 40s was allegedly stabbed in the neck and thrown from his wheelchair during a struggle with a woman who forced her way into a home in Thornlie, in Perth’s southeast.
Another resident, a woman in her 50s, was also allegedly assaulted in the armed robbery that 7NEWS understands was a Facebook Marketplace meetup on Saturday morning.
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The alleged female offender first arrived at the home on Bremer Pl and, after a short conversation at the front door, allegedly forced her way inside, armed with a bladed weapon, WA Police said.
While she was inside, two other men — one allegedly carrying a weapon believed to be a pickaxe — also entered the residence.
The male resident was stabbed in the neck and the female resident sustained an arm injury, police said.
One of the residents sought help from a neighbour about 10.55am, and responding St John WA paramedics took both of the injured residents to hospital.
A man and woman were allegedly assaulted at a home on Bremer Pl at Thornlie on Saturday morning. Credit: 7NEWS
The alleged offenders fled the scene, and have all been described by police as appearing to have olive skin with medium height and build.
The female was, at the time of the incident, wearing blue jeans, a brown and white striped long-sleeved shirt and a black cap with a motif, or writing, on the front, WA Police said.
Any witnesses or anyone with relevant information about the incident are urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
UPDATED: The body of the man discovered on a farmland road in the Nuku’alofa’s central south town of Tokomololo this morning has been identified as Kepueli ‘Ahome’e of Ha’alalo, Tongatapu.
Kepueli ‘Ahome’e
This has been confirmed to Kaniva News by his brother-in-law, Stanley Lui.
‘Ahome’e’s body was found lying face-down on what has been described as a tax allotment private road.
He has several tattoos with a distinct one on his right leg with the name Liahona, according to one witness.
He was wearing a red t-shirt and grey short pants.
Locals believed it was likely ‘Ahome’e died last night.
A witness reported on social media that Police had recovered the body.
Warning – this story contains details of domestic violence some readers may find upsetting.
A man sent threatening messages to his partner before leaving her with a serious brain injury, saying she had fallen in the shower.
She was found unconscious on a mattress inside the Auckland home, with Kasinga Filivao refusing to let a neighbour inside.
Filivao has now successfully got his minimum term of imprisonment reduced.
A woman was found by ambulance staff lying unconscious on a urine-soaked mattress, with both her eyes swollen shut. As a result of the assault by her partner, she has been left with a serious brain injury and will need care for the remainder of her life.
Her partner, Kasinga Filivao, was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm and assaulting her.
In September 2016, he was sentenced to 14 years and six months imprisonment by Judge McNaughton. He was ordered to serve at least nine years.
Filivao then appealed the sentence to the Court of Appeal. In a recently released judgment, the court quashed the minimum term of imprisonment replacing it with a minimum term of eight years and eight months.
It dismissed the application for an extension of time to appeal the conviction.
Filivao and the victim were in a relationship for around nine months and lived together in Auckland’s Mangere.
The relationship was described as violent by witnesses and family members.
In June 2014, Filivao and the victim were at a relative’s home when Filivao began throwing food at her.
The relative was out of the room for 10 minutes and when he returned he found the victim on the floor, then saw Filivao stomp on her face with his foot.
Once the victim got up, Filivao was witnessed pulling her hair. The relative got between them and was hit by a beer bottle.
The victim was also punched in the head.
Some six months later, Filivao sent threatening messages to the victim in Tongan, telling her he would beat her up and kill her.
She stayed with friends and went to her aunt’s place on December 21.
Filivao picked her up. That evening, neighbours heard a series of loud bangs, thuds and swearing and screaming.
Later that evening, Filivao called his ex-wife to tell her he couldn’t look after their children and asked her to come and pick up their belongings.
He told her to wait on the road.
The following morning, he called in sick to work.
Neighbours described Filivao as “nervous and fidgety” and didn’t want a neighbour coming into the house.
At 5pm that night, Filivao called an ambulance saying his partner was sleeping and would not wake up. He later said she had fallen in the shower.
“When ambulance staff arrived, they found the victim lying unconscious on a mattress which was heavily soiled with urine, and with serious facial injuries including both of her eyes being swollen shut. They also noticed the appellant had significant swelling to the knuckles on his hand,” the Court of Appeal judgment said.
The woman has suffered a serious brain injury and will remain in care for the rest of her life being unable to feed herself.
Filivao did not give evidence at trial and at his sentencing the judge found he had a high risk of committing other serious violent offences against women.
“It was common ground that the MPI (minimum term of imprisonment) imposed exceeded the maximum. In that respect, there was clearly a miscarriage of justice. This was recognised by the Crown who did not oppose allowing the appeal on this ground of leave. It is an extraordinary circumstance. We therefore grant an extension of time to appeal the sentence,” the Court of Appeal judgment said.
Domestic violence: where to get help
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If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 111
By Don Wiseman of rnz.co.nz and is republished with permission
It’s been weeks now since Tonga’s King Tupou VI let it be known that he wasn’t happy with the government assigningn two key Cabinet portfolios.
He never actually said but the Palace Office let it be known that the King felt these portfolios, foreign affairs and defence, should be held by the monarchy.
The Tongan government’s apppointees were the Prime Minister, Hu’akavameliku Siaosi Sovaleni, as the Defence Minister and Fekita ‘Utoikamanu, the only woman in Cabinet, as Foreign Minister.
In March, they resigned after pressure from the Palace Office but those roles have not yet been filled.
RNZ Pacific’s Don Wiseman asked our correspondent in Tonga, Kalafi Moala (KM), what is going on.
KM: There’s just complete silence. We, as media, have written in and called to try to get more information. And nothing from either the Palace Office or from the Prime Minister’s Office.
I think it’s just showing the real flaws in our system here, because we’ve been trying to be more democratic with the reform that took place in 2010. But as of now, there’s been a lot of struggles and a lot of things that are unexplained.
Tonga does not have a Minister of Defence, obviously, there must be people that are filling those roles, but it has not been revealed or told the public, there is just no accountability from our governance to the people. And that’s a real concern that we have here in Tonga right now.
DW: And the people, what do they think about it? Does it bother them?
KM: There’s a lot of complaints, a lot of questions. But this is how we handle fixing. It’s kind of odd, because we have the so called crisis between the Palace Office and the Prime Minister’s Office that led to the resignations. Then we’ve got those portfolios that are unfilled. As people are beginning the raise their voice, then we move on to another issue, and another issue. So the attention of the public, it’s been dragged on without answers to the questions that have been asked about the previous problems or previous issues.
It’s interesting, I think, that there was a press conference that was held by the Prime Minister couple of weeks ago. And he was asked directly what took place in his audience with the King. And it is interesting the answer of the Prime Minister, he actually said that it was a private conversation between two people, and he doesn’t have the freedom to reveal what was discussed in those private conversations.
The interesting thing is the reaction from the public was that, hey, you are not actually private people. Here is the head of state having a conversation on policy, on issues, with the Prime Minister of the country, and it’s called a private conversation. And so there are a lot of unanswered questions, but it’s where the public is being reacting to.
DW: Now Tonga has a pretty important year coming up. It is hosting the Pacific Islands Forum summit quite soon, and needs to get this sorted quickly, doesn’t it?
KM: It really does. And the Pacific Island Forum comes in in August. there are a lot of constructions concerning accommodation and meeting places that are ongoing right now, to try and have it completed by August. If this thing is on top of that, it’s gonna be a big issue.
The other thing to remember next year 2025, that’s an election year for Tonga. So there are a lot of noises that are being heard here and there, of people preparing for the election year and it’s gonna be a very significant time.
A woman who threatened to close shops in Vava’u pretending to be a customs officer has been given an 18-month suspended sentence.
Photo/Kaniva Tonga
Mele Soloi Malo Havea, 35, pleaded guilty at Nuku’alofa Supreme Court for impersonating a custom officer contrary to section 98 of the Customs and Excise Management Act.
Havea from Fungamisi, Vava‘u , arrived in Neiafu and lived at her uncle’s house at Leimatu‘a. She introduced herself as being transferred from Tongatapu to work at Vava‘u Customs.
Sometimes between July and August Havea was wearing a customs uniform and present in a faikava at Leimātu’a as tou’a, the woman who serves kava.
At one stage, Havea was at the Fia Chinese shop warning the shopkeepers of several things to do to comply with the law if not she would close the shop. Two Police officers stopped by at the shop and overheard what Havea was telling the shop keepers to do.
Havea also entered the J R Trading store and took a damaged can of tuna. She told the Chinese shopkeeper she was an inspector from Tonga.
On the same day, a Chinese businessman launched a complaint with Police that Havea did not pay his rental car in full.
Police later arrested her and brought Talita Fisi‘ihoi, a customs officer from the Customs office in Vava’u to confirm whether Havea was indeed an officer from Tongatapu Customs. Fisi’ihoi denied it and said Havea “has never worked as a customs officer”.
Justice Langi convicted and sentenced Havea to 18 months imprisonment on each count concurrent to the head sentence.
The sentence is fully suspended on the following conditions:
not to commit any crimes punishable by imprisonment.
40 hours of community work as directed by the Probation Officer. The accused is to report to the probation office within 48 hours of this sentence.
Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku claimed this afternoon that no one was interested in operating Lulutai airlines and this was why his government was still operating it.
PM Hu’akavameiliku
However, the claim was misleading because two former airline operators have repeatedly expressed interest in taking over the service.
The Prime Minister made his comment during a streamed press conference in Nuku’alofa this afternoon following King Tupou VI asked why the government continued to be involved in private business.
Hon. Hu’akavameiliku was responding to questions from local media who wanted to know his response to His Majesty’s questioning of what he termed the “secrecy” surrounding the government’s decision making about the airline.
The Prime Minister did not answer that question directly and instead said the payment for Lulutai’s new DeHavilland Twin Otter had been submitted to Parliament. He smiled while he said it.
He also said the preliminary report on the Saab 340 aircraft crash had already been released to the public.
He also responded to the king’s concerns about the government’s involvement with Lulutai by saying that his government would continue to do so.
In Tongan he said: “Ka ‘i he taimi ni ‘e ‘ikai fai ha lele i he taimi ko ee oku ai ha ki’i palopalema tau ki’i pine ai leva”.
This translates as: “At the moment we would not abandon it and run while there is a bit of problem, let’s get on with it”.
The Prime Minister also asked in Tongan: “If we, Lulutai withdraw from the airlines services would there be any airline services for the islands?
“Is there anyone who can buy the government out and can operate the airlines privately?”
He said those questions were not new as they had been previously raised and discussed.
He said there were discussions to engage Fiji Airways and Air New Zealand for the domestic airlines.
However, the Prime Minister appeared to be trying to find an answer after Kele’a Voice editor Teisa Pohiva asked why he did not bring back Real Tonga airline.
“Aaah…that’s another airline. I mean it would be just changing names if it was changed to Real Tonga”, the Prime Minister replied.
He said it had to be confirmed whether the Real Tonga could afford to buy Lulutai airlines or not.
The Prime Minister failed to mention that both previous operators, Real Tonga and Fly Niu had publicly shown their interest in replacing the Lulutai airlines and operating the domestic airlines if given the chance.
In 2019 Fly Niu director ‘Atu Finau publicly announced the then government’s decision that his company would start flying in Tonga by December that year.
He told Kaniva news at the time the government was expecting him to submit his airline license application as soon as he could. However, that deal failed to go ahead after the death of the then Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva that same year.
In 2021 Fly Niu and the then government reached an in-principle agreement for Fly Niu to buy Lulutai airlines. However, that deal again ended unsuccessfully after the government was taken over by the current administration.
The Real Tonga also announced publicly its interest in reviving the domestic airlines.
CEO Tevita Palu told Kaniva News recently he had met with several authorities, including the Prime Minister, the Minister Civil Aviation and the Minister of Finance to seek their support.
He said aircraft from New Zealand were readily available for delivery to Tonga and were waiting on Tongan Government approval.
Last year, Palu and Finau told Kaniva News they had agreed to work together if the government sold Lulutai airline to Fly Niu.
A vaping device found in the possession of a man arrested by Police on Tongatapu last year was used to conceal methamphetamine.
Mosese Mafile’o Uasike, 39, was sentenced to eight months imprisonment with partial suspension after he pleaded guilty to three charges of having 0.99 grams of methamphetamine.in his possession.
The court was told that on September 20, 2023 at around 10.30 pm, a tip-off prompted Police to raid Uasikee’s house in Kolomotu’a.
Upon arrival at the front side of the Wesleyan Church hall the Police noticed a black car dropping off a person before it left. The vehicle returned a short time later before the accused approached it.
By this time the Police made their move and arrested Mafile’o.
He attempted to get rid of a vape device but the Police immediately seized it.
He was searched and all that was found upon him was $200 cash.
The Police opened the device and found one pack containing five packs with a white substance inside and one pack also containing white substance.
Justice Cooper sentenced Uasike to eight months’ imprisonment, the last four months suspended for one year on conditions.
His sentence was then back dated to his first remand in police custody on 12 March this year.
All drugs and paraphernalia were forfeited and ordered to be destroyed. The cash seized also forfeited.
King Tupou VI has repeated his concerns over the government’s involvement in the operation of the Lulutai airlines.
King Tupou VI
The King made the comments during his speech this morning to mark the soft closing session of Parliament.
The strong language from the throne over the government’s roles in the controversial airlines used the word “fakapulipuli”, which translates as secrecy, and comes in the wake of Auditor General, Sefita Tangi, recently revealing the government had failed to submit a “share certificate” which should show who own the airline.
Kaniva News recently asked the Prime Minister whether his government had issued a share certificate or not and we are awaiting a response.
His Majesty and the Auditor General joined forces in echoing previous accusations by Opposition MPs that the Prime Minister had made decisions over Lulutai airlines in “secrecy”.
That accusation was part of 46 allegations mentioned in the Prime Minister’s confidence vote, which had included claims that the Prime Minister had failed to submit any financial statements for the Lulutai airlines to Parliament.
His Majesty also emphasised the democratic mechanism of transparency and warned that it was the responsibility of the MPs to be responsible and accountable to the people who voted for them.
He said it was the responsibility of Parliament to check and balance out the government’s services and businesses and make sure tax money was used wisely and transparently.
“Was the money well spent? Has it been useful for the people of the country?” the King asked.
The King also repeated the concerns he originally raised while chastising Parliament and the government four years ago. On that occasion he warned that it was imprudent for the government to take part in private business.
“Why is the government operating the airlines in secrecy?” the King asked in Tongan.
He also questioned why the government did not invite qualified people in the aviation industry to operate the airlines services.
The King then reminded Parliament that the government had failed to fund the former airlines company, although he did not say it directly. It appeared he was talking about the Real Tonga airlines about which he approached the former government for more funding to help it survive during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the government ditched Real Tonga and set up its new Lulutai airline in 2020.
The king was also concerned by what he said was Parliament taking the drug offenses lightly. He suggested considering the heaviest penalty to alleviate the increasing number of young people suffered from the harmful consequences of drug use and addiction.
The King also questioned the roles and services of the Anti-corruption Commission and the Ombudsman.
New Zealand barrister and mediator James Christopher LaHatte has been appointed as Tonga’s first Anti-Corruption Commissioner and was expected to take up his four-year posting on 1 July.
“Are the services of the Anti-corruption Commission and the Ombudsman working? Are they being in good use and available for every citizen?” the King asked.
The King’s speech was written in a letter and was read out by Lord Tangi ‘O Vaonukonuka this morning. Parliament is expected to return to duty in few weeks’ time to start deliberating the new budget.
