The
Supreme Court has acquitted three men of all charges except common assault
following the death of a man.
Peau
La’iafi, Nivaleti Tu’iono and Sione Kapa’ivai were each indicted each on counts of manslaughter,
alternatively grievous bodily harm and in the alternative common assault.
The
court was told that on or about June 15 2017 at Pelehake, they caused the death
of Manu Grewe.
Grew
was hit him on the head with a chair and repeatedly punched in the face and
mouth, fracturing his left jaw, which ultimately led him to asphyxiate.
In
his report on the case, Lord Chief Justice Cato said it had come to the notice of
the accused that the deceased had sexually assaulted the young daughter of
Tu’iono, who together with his two co-accused, Lai’afi and Kapa’ivai, and the
deceased, worked on his plantation.
Grewe
had admitted the assault, and after a period of drinking toge’ther at the home
of Tu’iono, the atmosphere changed at about 2am when the deceased with the
accused present, called out to the accused’s daughter.
Tu’iono
began punching him to his face. La’iafi then kicked him in the mouth with his
boot, after asking him to apologise and slapped him several times on the face.
After that Kapa’ivai punched him on the head and in the mouth and hit him on
the head with a chair. He also said
that he slammed his body around.
Tu’iono
went to
bed after Kapa’ivai stopped him assaulting
the deceased. Kapa’ivai started beating the deceased. During this time La’iafi
left and was taken home.
It
was not until about 8-9pm the next day that the deceased was taken to
hospital. He was unconscious and died
about midnight.
An
internal examination of the deceased by a pathologist found that he had inhaled
food which had blocked his breathing passage.
The
original pathologist was unable to present at the trial. The judge said the
assaults were not discussed with him and he wrote his brief report without any
reference to the assaults on
the accused, or how they may have
contributed to the cause of death.
The
prosecution said it was unable to take the matter any further or prove a cause
of death. As a result, the charge of manslaughter or grievous bodily harm
were then dropped.
Mr
Justice Cato said the assaults were discrete,
were perpetrated individually and
the men were not acting as accessories, aiding and abetting or giving wilful
support to another in a joint attack.
“Because the Crown is unable to adduce evidence which at its highest is
evidence from which a jury could infer
that each man made a material contribution to the cause of death,
I consider that no prima facie
case had been established on counts one and two manslaughter or grievous bodily
harm,” the judge said.
“No
satisfactory causal connection had been advanced as to the accused’s actions
and the death of Mr Grewe which took place many hours after and was said to be
asphyxiation.”
Each
of the accused pleaded guilty to common
assault and were convicted on
the third count in
the indictment.
The
main points
- The Supreme Court has acquitted three men of all charge
except common assault following the death of a man.
- Peau La’iafi, Nivaleti Tu’iono and Sione Kapa’ivai were
each indicted each on counts of
manslaughter, alternatively grievous bodily harm and in the alternative common
assault.
