Tonga Police have warned that a prisoner who escaped while he was being taken to court on Tuesday 12 is very dangerous, and should not be approached.
Heamani Lopeti, 40, is still serving prison sentences for various offences including armed robbery.
Police have appealed to the public for information about the 1.82m height and black hair prisoner.
Police said Heamani according to record lived in Ma’ufanga in Tongatapu.
The New Zealand’s Habitat for Humanity’s CEO Claire Szabo was in Nukuʻalofa to meet with Government of the Kingdom of Tonga Deputy Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni to sign a memorandum of understanding.
Ms Szabo said the agreement was focused on a commitment to the families of Tonga and provide them with affordable, cyclone-resistant homes.
“Habitat is committed to responding in times of disaster to all nations of the Pacific, and we’re pleased today to formalise our focus on responding to families in Tonga whose shelter may have been affected by disaster such as cyclones.”
“However, this agreement isn’t limited to a ‘bottom of the cliff’ response,” Ms Szabo said.
“We’re also very much looking forward to progressing work with families in Tonga whose shelter may not be adequate to withstand future disasters, through development projects, and this is a desire we’re pleased to share with the government of Tonga.”
Ms Szabo said the charity had been active in the Pacific for many years and was currently undertaking a partnership project in Samoa, continuing with rebuilding and housing resilience projects following the devastation of Tropical Cyclone Evan in 2012. Habitat was also working alongside Habitat for Humanity Fiji in the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Winston.
The signing of the memorandum of understanding was witnessed by New Zealand Member of Parliament Jenny Salesa.
More women are expected to join Tonga Police in July and that recruit squad is targeted to have more women than men.
The new police barrack opened in Nuku’alofa today was part of the Ministry’s endeavour to provide decent and modern accommodation to cater for the new female recruits.
These statements were taken from what Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva and Police Commissioner Steve Caldwell said in speeches they made while they commissioned the new police barrack at the Tonga Police Academy in Longolongo today.
The TP$1,053,468 buildings funded by New Zealand and Australia comprised of a training room, 20 bed rooms furnished with a table and a chair, a wardrope as well as a toilet block.
“These new police barracks and training room facility avails Tonga Police of much needed upgraded accommodation that supports the effectiveness of the accredited Tonga Police College in the delivery of training to Tonga Police at all levels, from recruit to upcoming Tonga Police leaders,” Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva said.
Police Commissioner Stephen Caldwell said the new building means an opportunity to bring in more police officers to Police.
“This day not only represents the opening of a new building but it opens the door to our future vision for the Tonga Police College, being a centre of learning excellence for our police officers,” Caldwell said.
“The purpose of this building is to accommodate our new recruits commencing in July, it will house our female recruits. I have clearly signaled that I wish the next recruit intake to be 50% women recruits.”
Hon. ‘Akilisi Pohiva in his keynote address said the new building would benefit Tonga’s Police College in its delivery of training to new recruits.
“These new police barracks and training room facility avails Tonga Police of much needed upgraded accommodation that supports the effectiveness of the accredited Tonga Police College in the delivery of training to Tonga Police at all levels, from recruit to upcoming Tonga Police leaders,” he said.
“These barracks and the land behind it will be used for the construction of a solar system to enhance the operation capacity of Tonga Police through access to a reliable source of electricity. This is also a crucial initiative that supports the commitment of the Tongan Government to reducing carbon emissions through renewable energy.”
The new barracks was designed by the Kramer Ausenco architects and built by the Yanjian Construction.
Two Tongans and One Fijian will book their ticket to Rio in the next couple of months after they were successful at the archery Olympic qualifier in Tonga yesterday.
Fiji’s Robert Elder, Tonga’s Sifa Taumoepeau and Lusi Tatafu were three new faces to add on to the two nations’ lists of Rio Olympians.
Last month Pita Taufatofua of Tonga became the first Tongan to qualify for the Rio Olympics after winning gold at the Oceania Taekwondo Qualifiers in Port Moresby.
Fiji table tennis youngster Sally Yee was qualified at the International Table Tennis Federation-Oceania Olympic Games qualification tournament in Bendigo, Australia in March.
Fiji’s men’s football team, men’s rugby sevens team as well as women’s rugby sevens were all qualified for the upcoming summer Olympics after they each won their Olympic qualifying finals in 2015.
In June Tongan competitive swimmer Amini Fonua who won three golds at the 2015 Pacific Games will compete in Fiji at the Oceania Swimming Championship to see if he can be qualified for the Olympic.
READ MORE:
Tonga hosts archery Olympic qualifier, Prince opens competition
An eight month old boy who died of vomiting and diarrhoea was the victim of poverty, the Tongan Supreme Court has ruled.
The Hon. Justice Cato described the case as tragic.
He made the statement in acquitting the child’s parents of charges of manslaughter by negligence.
He said the child’s death was avoidable, but that the baby and his parents were victims of poverty.
He said the parents were “perhaps lacking also in education and awareness.”
He said the defendants, Siulolovao Mafi and Teni Latu were very ordinary Tongan people, living by hand to mouth by Mr Latu’s fishing. They lived in very basic accommodation with four children.
The child died at the beginning of 2014 after being ill for several days.
He became ill on January 30 of that year and died on February 2. He was not attended by a doctor and was not taken to hospital.
Dr Aho, a paediatrician at the Vaola Hospital, gave the cause of death as dehydration. Dr Aho said if the child had been brought to the hospital as late as the morning of February 2 and been treated, he would have lived.
The Crown’s case was that the accused grossly neglected their child over this period, rendering them liable to an offence of manslaughter by negligence or in the alternative had both been guilty of wilful neglect by not seeking medical assistance or taking the child to hospital.
Hon. Justice Cato said that when considering his verdict, he took into account, among other matters, whether somebody in the same position as the boy’s parents would consider their conduct criminal.
He said neither of them seemed to fully understand how serious their baby’s condition was and in any case they were absolutely destitute and had no money with which to take their child to hospital several kilometres away.
He said that Mafi had relied on the wife for an assessment of the boy’s condition and had also spoken to his own mother. Tongan medicine had been tried, but failed. Teni’s sister believed the boy was possessed because they lived near a cemetery.
A local pastor was called to pray for the boy, but he too had apparently failed to realise the seriousness of the boy’s condition.
The pastor arrived in a vehicle, but did not offer and was not asked to take the boy to hospital.
The father had tried to obtain a vehicle from his patents, but they refused to lend it to him.
Hon. Justice Cato dismissed a suggestion that the boy’s mother should have taken her son and tried to hitchhike several kilometres to the medical facility.
He said the child’s feeding had been disrupted by a shortage of breast milk and the substitution of inadequate liquids instead of formula which in Tonga is expensive and he lost weight.
The mother had been giving the boy Milo and water and she and her sister had tried to fed the baby with chicken, breadfruit and juice while he was ill.
The judge said inadequate diet or hygiene may have caused his stomach ailment.
He said the parents did not, in his view, wilfully neglect, or abandon their child, but sought a vehicle or money and assistance from the extended family which was not forthcoming.
“I do not think that a parent who is unable to take a sick child to the hospital because he or she did not have the means to do so should be found to have wilfully neglected the child,” Hon. Justice Cato said.
“Perhaps they may have done more over the three day period, but taking into account their lack of means it is not clear to me, on the evidence I have heard, what more they could have done.
“This case is very sad and tragic.”
The main points
Auckland barrister Mina Wharepouri, who has Tongan and Maori heritage has been appointed an Acting District Court Judge to be based in Manukau.
The appointment was announced by Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson QC on Tuesday.
Wharepouri commenced his career with Kensington Swan in 1995.
He moved to Russell McVeagh in 1997 where he was counsel for several Māori claimants in proceedings in the High Court and Court of Appeal.
Between 2003 and 2011 Wharepouri worked for Meredith Connell leading District Court and High Court jury trials. He also trained police in matters relating to evidence and prosecution.
In 2012 Wharepouri became a barrister sole appearing regularly in District Court and High Court trials.
Judge Wharepouri, who will be sworn in on 1 June 2016 in Manukau.
His mother is Melenaite Vaka, the daughter of Tēvita Vaka and Vinola Cook of Helemonga, Kolomotuʻa in Tongatapu, Tonga.
A shift in the Ministry of Education’s CEO position last month has been decided after CEO Claude Tupou was not happy with some of the clauses in his proposed contract, the Prime Minister’s Office said today.
It was announced on March 30 that Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pōhiva who is also the Minister of Education and Training has appointed Ponapate Taunisila as Acting CEO.
It said Tupou who held the position since February 16 was reverted to his previous position as Deputy CEO for Secondary Schools.
Tupou was temporally holding the acting position while works to complete his appointment as CEO were in process.
The Office said the Prime Minister and the Public Service Commission agreed Tupou has to be removed from the position so that negotiations continued independently before a final decision will be made.
“This will give Mr. Tupou the independence to pursue and settle his dissatisfaction and at the [sametime] the Ministry’s operation to continue under the leadership of Mr. Taunisila. This decision has been discussed with all parties concerned”, the Office said.
Tupou was recommended by a panel to become the ministry’s CEO but this was rejected by the Minister.
Tupou took the Minister and the Ministry to the tribunal and he won it.
Hon Pōhiva endorsed the tribunal’s decision but he later found out Tupou was not happy with some of the clauses in his contract.
“These issues are still discussed and no consensus has been reached,” the Office said.
“The Public Service Commission is continuing with the appointment process to the position of CEO for Education and Training”.
Tonga’s National Food Authority in Nukuʻalofa has suspended the operation of a local company which supplied hotdog to retail suppliers.
The authority is investigating following a complaint that a pack of hotdogs purchased at a local retail shop in Nukuʻalofa contained what appeared to be live worms.
The complainant was slicing the hotdogs for a soup when she noticed the alleged worms coming out of the pieces.
It was not clear how long the pack of hotdogs was purchased before it was opened by the complainant.
The supplier could not be contacted but the authority said the product was imported from Canada.
Chief Executive Officer for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry & Food Losaline Māʻasi told Radio Tonga the labels on the pack showed the hotdogs were still edible as the pack was not expired.
Māʻasi said they were investigation to see whether or not the hotdogs were imported and repacked in Nukuʻalofa implying the label looks suspicious.
Tonga Police say the cause of death of a 61-year-old man in Havelu on Sunday at about 11am is still unknown.
A post-mortem was expected this week while the body of the deceased was in Vaiola Hospital.
Chief Police Superintendent Tevita Fifita said they received a report that a man died and he was taken to hospital.
The man was originally from Hihifo, Haʻapai.
The New Zealand-born Tongan swimmer Amini Tuitavake Britteon Fonua is currently training in San Francisco in preparation for the Oceania Swimming Competitions to be held in Fiji in June.
He will compete at the Rio Olympic qualifier with swimmers from countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Samoa.
“This is a qualifying time for the Olympics. There are other Tongan swimmers who also want to go to Rio and our selection panel will pick the best swimmers to go. The selection panel is independent and our policy is that no parent who has an athlete trying to be selected can sit in the panel”, his father Sione Fonua said.
ʻAmini won three gold medals for Tonga in 2015 Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
ʻAmini was trained by Jon Winter from New Zealand before he competed in the Olympic 2012. He could not make it to the semi final and he was Tonga’s flag-bearer.
He is the only Tongan athlete in history to ever hold dual Oceania and Pacific Games titles.
