Tongan Police said a 47-year old man from Ha’avakatolo helped two prison escapees after they broke out of the Central Police Custody on January 31.
Police said the accused drove Viliami Kupu and Amoni Fifita to and from the shop in Kolovai that they robbed while on the run from Police.
He has been charged with conspiracy and abetment of crime.
He is remanded in police custody to appear at the Fasi Magistrate Court on Thursday 9th February, 2017.
Lord Lasike was entitled to recover pay he would have received from the moment he lost his seat as an MP and the Speaker’s Chair to the end of that session of Parliament.
Lord Chief Justice Paulsen made the ruling in the Supreme Court this week after hearing an appeal from Lord Lasike over his conviction and loss of position as an MP and as Speaker of the House.
Lord Lasike had held the title and estates of Lasike since 2002. In 2005 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly as the Nobles’ Representative for ‘Eua. He was re-elected in 2008 and again in 2010.
On December 17, 2010, he was made Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
On July 9, 2012, Lord Lasike was convicted in the Supreme Court of possessing ammunition without a license.
Lord Lasike lost his hereditary title and estates of Lasike, his seat in the Legislative Assembly and his position as Speaker.
All payments of remuneration, allowances and other entitlements to the plaintiff ceased from July 9, 2012.
Following his conviction, the Attorney General, Mr. Adsett, insisted that he would advise the king to revoke Lord Lasike’s appointment as Speaker and the Legislative Assembly to call a by-election, despite the fact that Lord Lasike was appealing his conviction.
The former Speaker successfully appealed his conviction in the Supreme Court in October 2012 and regained his title and estates, but not his seat in Parliament or position as Speaker.
Lord Fakafanua was appointed to replace him as Speaker on 20 July 2012.
A by-election was held on 2 August 2012 and Lord Nuku was elected to replace the plaintiff as the Nobles’ Representative for ‘Eua.
On February 7, 2013, His Majesty in Council restored the plaintiff to his hereditary title and estate of Lasike.
In the current case, Lord Lasike had asked the Supreme Court to declare that his removal from the Legislative Assembly and as Speaker was unlawful and contrary to the Constitution, that he remained a member of the Legislative Assembly from July 9, 2012, until the end of its term on November 24, 2014 and that he was entitled to be paid the wages and entitlements that would have been owing to him after July 9.
The Crown argued that Lord Lasike ceased to be a member of the Legislative Assembly as a matter of law and that his appointment as Speaker was lawfully revoked by His Majesty the King.
Lord Chief Justice Paulsen said Lord Lasike regarded himself as the victim of a hasty decision to remove him, despite the fact that his appeal had not been heard.
“He says, and I accept, that he was greatly distressed by what had occurred and publicly humiliated and that he had to move from his home in Taufa’ahau Road Kolofo’ou to Lakepa to get away,” Lord Chief Justice Paulsen said.
The judge said while Lord Lasike could not be restored to his positions in the Legislative Assembly, he was entitled to the salary and emoluments attaching to those positions of which he was deprived.
Lord Lasike was therefore entitled to payment from the Crown of the moneys he would have earned as a member of the Legislative Assembly and as Speaker from July 9, 2012 to November 24, 2014, totalling TP$223,385.
The main points
A Tongan man in Bountiful, Utah has admitted to beating death of his ex-wife’s husband, stomping on his head and then taking a cellphone picture of him laying on the ground.
He was originally charged with murder but that was reduced to a charge of manslaughter, Utah media reported.
Police say Heneli Kaufusi, 36, violently attacked Sione Mangisi, 37, on Oct. 14, 2015, continuing to kick and stomp on the smaller man even after he lay motionless and incoherent. Mangisi died of his injuries shortly after.
Kaufusi is listed as 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighing 330 pounds, while police described Mangisi as 6 feet tall and 220 pounds.
A bystander who witnessed the attack and contacted police testified in a preliminary hearing last year that Kaufusi stomped on Mangisi’s head and repeatedly kicked, punched and kneed him. He then took a cellphone picture of Mangisi laying on the ground.
“He was large, he was angry, he was bloody,” the woman said of Kaufusi.
Originally charged with murder, a first-degree felony, Kaufusi pleaded guilty Wednesday to manslaughter and aggravated assault resulting in bodily injury, both second-degree felonies.
According to plea documents, Kaufusi began fighting Mangisi “with the belief that I was defending myself.”
“The fight continued to the point where the facts would no longer have justified my belief I was acting in self-defense,” the plea states.
As the fight continued, Kaufusi continued to strike Mangisi in a way that he knew “created a substantial and unjustifiable risk” he would be substantially injured and die, the plea states.
Mangisi died of blunt force trauma to the head and torso, with existing hypertension and cardiovascular conditions contributing, a medical examiner found.
The two men exchanged text messages about child custody and visitation before the altercation, according a search warrant. Mangisi had previously been married to Kaufusi’s wife.
Kaufusi faces potential prison sentences of one to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors will recommend that the sentences run concurrent.
This story first appeared on KSL
The Speaker of Parliament Lord Tu’ivakano has announced he has received submission of a motion of no confidence in Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva yesterday Thursday 2.
The House chief clerk Gloria Pole’o has confirmed the move in a letter to Members of Parliament yesterday.
It said the motion was submitted together with supporting documents.
The announcement did not say who submitted the no confidence motion.
The motion will be put to the Parliamentary Privileges Standing Committee for a review before it would be distributed to all members of the Legislative Assembly, it said.
The Committee will meet today Friday 3 at 2pm, the announcement said.
It said a date for the motion of vote of no confidence will be announced once the Standing Committee finished screening the submission.
The motion has a formal constitutional force which is stipulated by clause 50B of the Tongan constitution.
READ MORE
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Pohiva asks date for vote of no confidence motion as Lord Vaea remains silent
Tonga Post has adopted a new system that claims to be able to give everybody in the world a unique three word address based on a computerised mapping system.
Launched in 2013, What3words uses a grid of the world made up of 57 trillion squares of three metres by three metres. Each square has been given a three-word English address. What3words has named the 17 trillion squares on land with three words in various other languages.
Home delivery in Tonga has been restricted to express mail in Nuku’alofa. Any other mail would be sent to centralised PO Boxes, with the recipient responsible for collection.
Tonga Post said this had resulted in high volumes of undelivered mail, which took up valuable space and incurred extra costs for Tonga Post.
What3words is being used in more than 170 countries. Tonga is the first country in the Pacific to adopt the system.
Homes and businesses can find their three word address via the free what3words app or online map site. Customers can then use the three word address to send and receive mail, and during the checkout process on e-commerce websites.
“With the amount of international mail and e-commerce rapidly rising, it is essential we have the delivery infrastructure in place to service our customers’ needs,” Tonga Post CEO Siosifa Pomana said.
“Given that the whole of Tonga already has pre-assigned three word addresses it means we can roll out our service immediately.”
Tonga Post is planning an expansive education campaign, including visiting customers’ homes, providing brochures, flyers and other informational material.
The main points
Tonga’s Health Minister Saia Piukala rejected claims made on the Nepituno website that he used part of his constituency fund to help pay for fuel transported from Tongatapu to Vavaʻu last year.
Hon. Piukala said the claim was untrue and he did not say that during a conversation with the editor Dr. Viliami Latu.
He said the constituency budget was controlled by Parliament and the funds for 2016-2017 have already been distributed among his constituents.
He said Nepituno should have double checked their facts before publishing their story.
The Minister said Dr. Latu did not tell him that he was going to publish the conversation they had during a party in Vavaʻu.
“Is it ethical and professional for a journalist to just collect ʻtalanoa faikavaʻ (talking at kava circles) and publishing them without getting confirmation from the sources to make sure they got all the facts before publishing them?”, Hon. Piukala said.
Dr. Latu did not deny what Hon. Piukala has rejected his story, saying he just published what the Minister had told him to.
Dr. Latu told Kaniva News he respected Hon. Piukala’s reaction to the story.
He said he thought the way Hon. Piukala was talking to him and others during the party was a hint for him to publish what he was talking about.
“The issue is important and because I raised it before, I found the conversation with him as an opportunity to clarify it”, Dr Latu said.
The fuel was transported from Tongatapu to Vavaʻu by former government Minister and outgoing MP for Vavaʻu, ʻEtuate Lavulavu at a time when the northern island group had not had any new fuel shipments for weeks.
A giant green cloud in the ocean near Tonga’s main island of Tongatapu could be a clue to a huge underwater eruption.
The cloud was photographed by a NASA satellite late last month and spotted by a University of Auckland scientist.
It is near where a new island has formed after an earlier eruption at the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015.
The island is 33km offshore from Tongatapu.
University of Auckland coastal geomorphologist Dr Murray Ford said he had been using NASA’s Landsat pictures to study the kilometre-wide island, which is made of ash and large rock fragments.
“It’s come out of nowhere,” Dr Ford told the New Zealand Herald.
He said the underwater plume was 30km long and 20km wide.
The plume, appearing as a greenish cloud in the ocean, was captured by the open-source US Geological Survey/NASA Landsat 8 satellite on January 27.
“It’s come out of nowhere,” said Ford, who immediately contacted volcanologists at the university.
“It was pretty unusual to get an image without any cloud in it – and then I saw this big, turbid plume of volcanic debris, so I checked in with our volcanologists to see what was going on.”
Dr Ford told Radio New Zealand the plume should be visible to mariners sailing through the area.
“Any boats passing through or fishing might notice some discolouration of the water but I’m not too sure whether it would be visible from land,” he said.
Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences volcanologist Brad Scott said GNS scientists were contacting colleagues in Tonga.
“We are relatively confident that these images are representing a submarine eruption,” Dr Scott said.
The plume appears to come from a site that last erupted between December 1998 and January 1999.
The main points
For more information
NZ scientist discovers huge undersea eruption
Scientist discovers underwater eruption in Tonga
A new interisland service has been started in Tonga after the new ferry, the MV Vaomapa was commissioned on Saturday last week.
It was operated by the Tofa Ramasay Enterprise, a shipping company not new to Tongans.
General Manager Tuna Mailangi Ramsay Likiliki said her grandparents Tofa and Mele Ramsay started the business 60 years ago with a 7.62 metre ferry known as MV Taufale.
The ferry was captained by Tofa and the purser was Mele, she said.
The new 140 -ton ferry can carry up to 250 passengers and was commissioned at Queen Salote wharf in Nukualofa.
The company has announced the fees for ‘Eua on its Facebook page.
“The prices are $20 for adults, $15 for students, $10 for children and it is free of charge for kids under the age of 5”.
The 47 metre ferry was bought from South Korea.
Viliami Kupu and ‘Amoni Fifita were arrested in Tongatapu last night and are being held in police custody.
“Kupu was located at Hofoa yesterday Wednesday 1st February at 7:35pm while Fifita was located at Ha’ateiho early this morning at 4:00am”, Deputy Police Commissioner Pelenatita Vaisuai said.
“Police would like to thank members of the public for the information and assistance provided during the search for the 2 escaped prisoners”.
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16-year-old Alisi Mataele-Katoa will compete in the upcoming junior and senior secondary schools’ beach volleyball competition on February 15.
She also recently competed in the Hawke’s Bay Secondary Schools Junior and Senior Beach Volleyball at the East Pierin Ahuriri, Napier, on January 28.
Mataele-Katoa regularly competes in indoor volleyball and netball, and is known for her tall stature and exceptional skills on the court that she considers to be a gift from God.
Hailing from Flaxmere, Hastings, she was raised in a very religious Tongan household where she grew up attending church with her parents Malia and Siaosi.
Mataele-Katoa’s upbringing in the Tongan Methodist church, along with her deep respect for her own Polynesian heritage means that she does not sport the revealing outfit commonly worn by female beach volleyball competitors during matches. She instead opts to wear shorts and a t-shirt.
Speaking of the bikini-style uniforms worn by other competitors, Mataele-Katoa says “No, I’ll never wear anything like that because I’m shy and I know my roots as a Poly girl.”
Volleyball HB operations manager Tony Barnett says beach volleyball is fairly new in Hawkes Bay because the sand isn’t the best consistency for the sport. Because of this, people are often drawn to playing indoor volleyball instead.
In terms of her newfound interest in beach volleyball, she says “I’ve watched it on TV and I like it but I’ve never had the chance to try it out. I’d like to give it a try because it’s something I’ve never had a go at before”.
Mataele-Katoa is well known for her ability to forcefully spike the ball back over to the other side of the net during volleyball matches. “I love how you can smash the ball,” she says.
Despite her reputation of being a powerhouse on the court, she is currently building other skills under the guidance of her coaches who hope to mould her into an even more well-rounded player.
Mataele-Katoa is also a distinguished netballer, and she is glad that the volleyball and netball seasons do not overlap with one another. However, she easily identifies volleyball as her favoured choice between the two sports “because volleyball training is a lot more fun.”
This story first appeared on New Zealand Herald
