A Tongan woman in Redwood City, US has been jailed for five years probation and 364 days in county jail after siphoning US$107,108 out of the bank account of her elderly client.
She was also ordered to pay US$107,000 restitution to her victim.
Nina Guttenbeil, 51, was sentenced Thursday after the court was told the thefts she committed using the ATM card of the 98-year-old San Carlos victim, began in 2015, San Mateo Daily Journal reported.
Guttenbeil was working for the 98-year-old elderly woman as a caretaker after the victim received a recommendation from a local church to hire her, The Journal reported.
Prosecutors charged Guttenbeil with felony theft from an elder by a caretaker, and felony identity theft.
The victim’s daughters discovered the thefts after they began looking into their mother’s finances earlier last year, authorities said.
According to the district attorney’s office, Guttenbeil admitted to the thefts when the women confronted her.
A husband and wife guilty of multiple charges of sexual assault have been sentenced to lengthy prison sentences.
As Kaniva news reported last
December, they were found guilty in the Supreme Court of several counts of rape
and serious indecent assault.
The complainant told the court she
was extremely drunk and awoke to find the couple performing a series of sexual
acts on her.
The court heard that the mother
helped her husband rape the accused.
Judge Niu found beyond any reasonable doubt that the complainant had not consented to any of the acts and therefore found the husband and wife guilty.
In handing down the sentences, Judge
Niu said the Crown had argued that the offending was pre-meditated, that neither
of the prisoners had expressed remorse and that they had instilled fear in the
complainant.
He dismissed pleas for
mitigation from the defence on the
grounds that the couple’s children would be severely affected by their parents’ imprisonment.
“A prison sentence cannot be averted by the fact that the accused is a mother with
an infant or a father with young children,” Judge Niu said.
“If that were to be so, such mothers
and fathers would freely commit offences and avoid prison by reasons of their
children.”
Judge Niu said the severity of the
case led him to impose an equally serious penalty.
He said he would fail in his duty to
uphold the laws of this country if he did not hand down a sentence that
reflected the offence they had committed upon the complainant.
He described this as “the removal and
destruction by both of you of her [the complainant‘s] sanctity, dignity and
honour as a woman.”
The husband was sentenced to a total
of 17 years imprisonment. The wife was sentenced to 15 years and six months
imprisonment.
Kiliki ‘i he ‘ōtiō ‘i ‘olunga’ ke ke fanongo ki he fakataha ‘a e ‘Eiki Palēmia’ mo e kāinga Niuafo’ou
Sponsored:
Audio of the Prime Minister’s meeting in Niuafo’ou was provided by the Prime Minister’s office and transcribed and translated into English by Kaniva News. This English version of the audio had been abridged.
The Prime Minister met with Niuafo’ou residents as part of his visit around the whole of Tonga to have a ground level view of the damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Tino which struck the kingdom last month.
Prime Minister Hon Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa said the population was small and their concerns should be easily addressed and provided for.
In a speech during the meeting, Hon Tu’i’onetoa said that among other matters, the residents’ urgent needs were to fix their roads, repair and upgrade their wharf, build house weaving buildings, and provide internet connectivity to all remote rural areas.
The residents were also concerned at the flat charge by the only government’s sponsored vessel to the island levied when it shipped water and goods to Niuafo’ou.
The cost for the 10,000 litre tank of water was TOP$3600 and the ship company charged $1500 on top of that.
The Prime Minister said he has noted their concern.
Minister of Finance Tēvita Lavemaau said the government paid its shipping company a subsidy of TOP$45,000 so the vessel could travel to Niuafo’ou.
Hon. Lavemaau
said the Cabinet had assigned a committee to work on issues of shipping and
airline needs for the Niuas.
The Minister
was responding after the Niuafo’ouans described the ships and airline traveling
and flight charges as beyond their financial capabilities and asked the Prime
Minister to help.
The residents also told the Prime Minister they needed tree-cutting chainsaws, a vehicle for the Si’i Kae ‘Amo Association – an association created to facilitate the community’s needs – and other equipment for road maintenance.
The secretary
of the Si’i Kae ‘Amo told the Prime Minister works to process mat weaving
plants known as fanakio were very difficult.
He said men had to cut the fanakio from the cliff’s sides and take them a long distance before they reached the sea for bleaching of the plants. He said the roads were rough and it took two to three weeks for the bleaching process to be completed before they brought them back home for weaving.
A woman told the meeting their road up to the mountain was blocked by trees and she was concerned that if any tsunami or volcanic eruption occurred they could not evacuate.
The residents
also said they needed internet connectivity so they could contact their
families outside Niuafo’ou, especially when they were living overseas.
They said
only three villages were connected to the internet.
Another woman asked the Prime Minister to consider sending the government officials to hold meetings with the town officers in Niuafo’ou. She said they only have a few men on the island to rely on and when they left for meetings they had no one to depend on, especially if natural disasters hit the island.
The Niuafo’ouans also wanted to construct a runway for the aircraft. At present, the aircraft has to land on a grass runway. When it was raining it could not be able to land.
The CEO of Tonga’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, Dr Fotu Fisi’iahi, has denied widespread reports about Tongan workers living in slum conditions in Tasmania.
According
to the reports, which were carried by Kaniva news, about 77 Tongan seasonal workers were
evacuated from a five bedroom house in Shearwater due to overcrowding and
inadequate conditions.
Australian
unions said the workers’ employer, Costa, had committed what amounted to human
rights abuse.
Tongan
workers in Tasmania told the ABC they wanted to warn people in the kingdom what
they were getting themselves into by joining the Seasonal Workers’ Programme in
Australia.
“We
want them to know the truth. People just pay for the airfares and come over
here because they don’t have the information they need,” the workers told
the Australian national broadcaster.
Dr
Fisi’iahi said if there had been any problems the Tongan workers would have
reported them to Tonga’s representative in Tasmania.
“If the investigation you are talking about was true, the seasonal workers would have long complained about it,” Dr Fisi’iahi said in Tongan.
“The
Tongan seasonal workers knew what was good and what was bad.
“We all know the journalists they can twist everything to make their news popular before correcting it.”
However, he said he would raise the issue with the worker’s employer— at a meeting in Brisbane next month.
He
claimed a Tongan representative, Sione Vaka, had investigated the situation and
said the claims were not true. He described Vaka as reliable and said he was
paid by the Tongan government.
He
said Tonga was the only country that had a liaison officer in Tasmania.
Dr Fisi’iahi said Vaka denied all the workers involved were Tongans.
He did not respond when he was asked how many Tongan Seasonal Workers at Shearwater.
“Vaka reported there were three buildings in which the employees stayed. There was a five storey building in which females workers stayed and two other buildings for the male workers,” Dr Fisi’iahi said.
“There
were bunk beds in the rooms which were divided into five.
“There
was a problem between the council and the landlord over renovation to the
buildings the landlord had not done.”
Dr
Fisi’iahi said Vaka always visited and checked the accommodation of the Tongan
seasonal workers in Tasmania.
The Supreme Court has dismissed a 12 years-old accusation of theft.
In 2008 Heleni Ruby Ma’afu, an employee of Pacific Travel Marketing Ltd,
took TP$36,046 from bank cards of customers of Pacific Travel Marketing Ltd.
The case was not received by the attorney general for prosecution until
2018, which the judge described as “inordinate delay.”
There was no dispute that she had wrongly used customer’s credit card
details to pay for travel on occasions when no travel debts were outstanding with
the company. As a result, various sums were provided to the company as credit.
When she was caught she was fired and any financial losses had to be made
good. A complaint was made to the police.
“There is no complaint that the
accused used any money for her own purposes but it is alleged she used the
money to enhance the company’s position and reduce its overdraft, although it
is apparent why she was motivated to do this,” the judge said.
The defence argued that Ma’afu had not done anything which involved
taking property under section 143 of the Criminal Offences act.
The judge said the wording of the charge against her was misconceived
and suggested she too he money from bank cards of customers.
“She did not take any money,” the judge said.
“All she did by her deception was to influence the advancing of credits
to the bank for the fictitious debts if its customers.
“For these reasons I rule that the case cannot amount to a dishonest
“taking” as section 143 require.
“The Crown cannot establish a prima facie case, so I rule the accused
has no case to answer and the case is dismissed.”
The Tongan government is still working on preparing a quarantine space for people affected by the corona virus.
No cases have been reported in the kingdom so far.
The Ministry of Health said it was
working with the World Health Organisation on making sure the best preventative
measures were in place while preparing for the worst case.
WHO is providing protective equipment
including masks, gowns, gloves, hand washing aids, to protect both health
workers and the population from the possible spread of the virus.
The WHO continued to describe the
regional and global threat level as high.
Last week the Tongan government
turned away three cruise ships and a German super yacht.
Meanwhile, officials from the
Ministry of Internal affairs met with the parents of athletes being evacuated
from Tonga.
About 50 students and officials have
been flown to London and are reported to be in good health.
Four Tongan are quarantined in New
Zealand.
When the virus broke out in Wuhan, more
than 100 Tongans were in China.
This included Tongan students, the Tonga Ambassador’s office,
Tongan athletes and Tongan visitors.
The
main points
The Tongan government is
still working on preparing a quarantine space for people affected by the corona virus.
No cases have been
reported in the kingdom so far.
Kaniva Tonga news apologises unreservedly to former ‘Ikale Tahi player and Free Wesleyan Church minister Rev. Tevita Latailakepa, his family, kāinga and friends following the incorrect report this morning on our news website that he had died.
As Editor I
take responsibility for the mistake, which should never have occurred.
I have tried personally to speak to Sela Latailakepa, the wife
of Tevita but have not been able to reach her.
I understand the family are by Rev. Latailakepa’s bedside and I
have apologised for adding to their grief.
Early this morning we noticed reports by some ex-high school classmates of Tevita at Tupou College and Free
Wesleyan Church ministers that Tevita has died.
Our normal procedure in such circumstances is to seek confirmation
from the immediate family or those who are very closed with the person in question.
Unfortunately, our sources got it wrong too.
We are currently looking into what checks were made regarding the sources
we based our story on, with a view to ensuring procedures are reviewed to
ensure that there is no repeat of this type of error in the future.
Former ‘Ikale Tahi number eight Tēvita Latailakepa has died.
His cause of death is yet to be officially released.
He was a minister of the Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga and a
former tutor at Tupou College.
He was a respected coach locally since his tenure as Tupou College 1st XV Rugby team coach saw the school regularly winning the Inter-College Rugby Tournament Cup.
Rev Latailakepa was elected chairman of the Tonga Rugby Union Board in 2011 to replace Bob Tuckey who resigned over his differences with the team’s coach.
A woman who said she was blind told a government and constituency meeting this week she was concerned at how police treated complaints by people with disabilities.
She described the way how police dealt with their complaints as very poor (“mā’olalo ‘aupito.”)
The woman claimed she was sexually harassed twice since she went blind in 2002.
She said she lodged a complaint with police but it was dropped outright because, according to her, police said no one could witness the harassment took place.
She was allegedly sexually harassed for a second time and she again filed a complaint but police gave her the same response.
The woman told the meeting she was distressed by the way how police treated her complaints.
She asked
the government to do something to make sure their complaints and concerns were
treated fairly.
The Minister of Police, who was at the meeting, said in Tongan “Kou palōmesi” ( I promise) and invited the woman to relodge her complaints.
The meeting was part of a public fono organised by the Prime Minister’s Office to meet with people of all constituencies in Tonga.
Those who attended the meeting at Tongatapu 1 were concerned at liquor use and loud music coming from moving vehicles at their Sopu popular coastal end spot.
The Minister of Police Lord Nuku told the constituents there was no budget for police to adequately patrolled the streets, however he said his Ministry will look at reviewing its policy.
The meeting was attended by the Prime Minister and some of his cabinet ministers.
Tonga’s new dialysis facility is set to temporarily open at Vaiola hospital, according to sources who are involved with the project.
They said if things go according to plan the services are expected to open to the public in April.
The new dialysis centre was
planned to be built at His Majesty’s Tufumāhina estate.
It is understood works to register the land were still in process.
Prime Minister Pōhiva Tu’i’onetoa
has announced the dialysis facility was one of his government’s priorities.
As Kaniva previously
reported in May last year, a private company in Salt Lake City was partnering
with Tonga’s Ministry Of Health for the project.
The
facility would be established “at no cost to the government.”
There is no dialysis available in Tonga which means those with end stage kidney disease have to travel overseas for costly dialysis or a kidney transplant.
