Tonga steps up fight against drugs

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22/02/2019

By Radio New Zealand

Tonga’s Minister of Police says the fight against illicit drugs and their harmful effects on people is a key priority for the government.

Mateni Tapueluelu said a new agreement with Australia, New Zealand and Fiji police to combat serious and organised crime signals a regional approach to a regional problem.

He said the Tongan government would be increasing staffing levels and police resources.

The Tonga Police Drug Enforcement Taskforce was launched in April 2018 and a total of 154 arrests have been made since then.

The government was also setting up a National Drugs Steering Committee to gather agencies and community leaders together to deal with the problem.

Police Commissioner Steve Caldwell said the international police agreement reflected a will to take the fight to drug dealers moving through Tongan waters, and further protect the country’s people and borders.

Meanwhile the latest arrests this week involved seven people who had 14 packs of methamphetamine.

Matangi Tonga reported the arrests came after drug busts were carried out in three different locations and five men and two women are now in custody while investigations continue.

There have been several police raids involving arrests relating to drugs this month.

Deputy Police Commissioner, Pelenatita Vaisuai, said police were taking proactive measures to rid communities of illegal drugs and he appealed to the public to contact police if they saw any suspicious activity.

This article is republished under Kaniva’s content partnership agreement with Radio New Zealand.

Elderly woman killed in US fire was wife of former Tongan MP and lawyer

By

Kalino Latu

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22/02/2019

An elderly woman who died in a house fire in San Mateo on Tuesday morning was a wife of Masao Paasi, a former Member of Parliament and lawyer.

Susana Tonga, 85, was found in a home in the 100 block of South Humboldt St.

She was widely known to the Tongan community in US by the name Lolohea Tonga.

Tongan correspondent Sione Vaha’i in US said Susana’s tragic death has shattered the Free Wesleyan church community.

He said the deceased has been very supportive and active in the affairs of the church.

San Mateo fire officials said they got a 911 call around 4.30am Tuesday reporting smoke and flames coming from the home.

When firefighters first got to the scene, they thought that everyone inside the house had escaped. They did, except for one person, San Mateo news media have reported.

But when seven of the eight family members finally regrouped, they realized their elderly grandmother was still inside.

“We went in and located her,” said San Mateo Consolidated Fire Dept. Marshal Robert Marshall. “We brought her out and attempted CPR but we were unsuccessful and she passed away at the scene.”

Firefighters were able to knockdown the fire by 4:45 a.m., but not before flames had heavily damaged the home.

It was not clear whether the delay in pulling the woman out would have made a difference. “That’s very difficult to say,” said Marshall. “With the advanced nature of the fire, that amount of fire would be difficult to overcome in that regard. There was a lot of smoke in the house even after the fire was extinguished, So it’s very difficult to second-guess that sort of thing.”

The Red Cross was helping the displaced family find temporary shelter.

“It’s always a sad day, You know, we always want to save people. And when we can’t, that always hits us hard,” said Marshall.

Deputy Fire Chief Kent Thrasher said a cause of the blaze was still under investigation.

Editor’s note: We have edited this story to reflect the fact that Masao Paasi was a former MP and Lawyer. Earlier on we referred to him as – Late Masao Paasi. This was incorrect and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

For more information:

Elderly woman, Susana Tonga, killed in US fire

Auckland school rugby coach Alosio Taimo jailed for 22 years for historical sex abuse

By

Kaniva Staff

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22/02/2019

By Radio New Zealand

Alosio Taimo, the Auckland rugby coach found guilty of 95 sex charges, has been sentenced to 22 years imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.

Alosio Taimo on trial in the Auckland High Court. Photo: RNZ / Edward Gay

In October, Taimo was found guilty of 95 of the 106 charges against him for sexually abusing boys.

The jury returned with their verdicts after 17 hours of deliberations.

The 55-year-old was originally charged with offending against one boy in August 2016.

The boy’s aunt had overheard him telling his cousins that Taimo was gay and that he knew this because Taimo had touched him.

She went to police who investigated and identified more complainants.

The number of complainants grew again after Taimo’s name suppression was lifted and his identity published in the media.

The 106 charges laid by the Crown spanned nearly 30 years, with the youngest complainant just nine-years-old at the time of the offending.

During the nine-week trial, Crown prosecutor Jasper Rhodes argued Taimo sexually abused boys at his job at McDonald’s where he worked as a manager, at a school where he later worked as a teacher aide and in his own home and car, amongst others.

As well as hearing evidence given by complainants, the jury were shown a photograph of a boy sitting topless on Taimo’s bed, stored in his cellphone called ‘family and forever’.

The jury were also told about, but not shown, an explicit close-up photo of a young teenager performing a sex act on a man – also found on Mr Taimo’s cellphone.

The face of the male can’t be seen but the Crown told the jury they could infer it was Taimo – based on the fact the photo was on his phone, and that fabric seen in it was similar to distinctive bedding seen in police photographs of his home.

Taimo’s defence was that each of the complainants had lied.

This article is republished under Kaniva’s partnership agreement with Radio New Zealand.

Multiple petitions call for dissolution of Tonga Parliament

By

Kaniva Staff

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22/02/2019

By Radio New Zealand

Three petitions with over 10,000 signatures calling for the King of Tonga to dissolve Parliament and launch an investigation into the government have been presented to the palace in Nuku’alofa.

Matangi Tonga reported the petitions, presented on Monday, come alongside claims there were no checks and balances and corruption existed in government.

A former government minister Clive Edwards presented a petition signed by former politicians.

Noble MP Lord Nuku presented a petition from the country’s nobles.

The third petition was presented by former MP Teisina Fuko from members of the general public.

Clive Edwards said he believed that once a Royal Commission for Investigation was appointed, a caretaker government would need to be put in place.

Teisina Fuko said a fourth petition from another sector of society was expected to be presented today.

He said there was pressure for a major public demonstration to present the petitions, but they decided it was best to avoid possible confrontations with government supporters

In August 2017 King Tupou VI dissolved parliament which resulted in new elections being held the same year.

In June 2018, a 3,000-strong signature petition to impeach the prime minister and seven of his cabinet ministers was submitted to parliament.

This article is republished under Kaniva’s partnership content agreement with Radio New Zealand.

Records would remain under government control after digitising, says Mormon Elder

By

Kalino Latu

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21/02/2019

Ownership of Tongan records would remain with the kingdom, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said today.

Mormon Elder Aisake Tukuafu said the church had offered to digitise national records to preserve them for the future.

“The Church has provided this digitisation and preservation service, free of charge, to governments around the world,” Elder Tukuafu said.

“The ownership of the records here would stay in the hands of the Kingdom, the government and the people of Tonga.”

He said digitising the records would help preserve them for generations to come and allow Tongans to access information about their ancestors.

“As is the case in other countries where we offer this service to governments, the Church obeys the laws of the land including national data privacy laws,” he said.

As Kaniva Tonga news reported yesterday, the government is processing approval for the church’s FamilySearch unit to digitise Tonga’s births, deaths, marriage and other documents.

Deputy Prime Minister Semisi Sika. Who is a Mormon, said Tonga was not the only country to allow the Mormons to digitise its records.

Last year South Australia partnered with the Mormon to digitise its official records including social welfare records, family history, and school admissions.

In 2013 the Papua New Guinea government announced that it had partnered with the Latter Day Saints to digitise the nation’s birth, death and marriage archives.

It is understood Niue has also agreed to let the Mormons digitise its records.

FamilySearch holds more than three billion records and offers services which include image capturing, digital conversion, preservation, online indexing and access.

The main points

Ownership of Tongan records would remain with the kingdom, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said today.
Mormon Elder Aisake Tukuafu said the church had offered to digitize national records to preserve them for the future.

For more information

Mormon digitising of Tonga’s records would benefit country, Deputy PM Sika says

Mormon digitising of Tonga’s records would benefit country, Deputy PM Sika says

Tongan man charged over murder of 50-year-old man in US

By

Kaniva Staff

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21/02/2019

A 22-year-old Tongan man had been charged earlier this month in relation to a murder of 50-year-old man in Nevada, US.

Taniela Siale Lopiseni Salakielu, 22, of Henderson, Nevada, was charged Friday with murder, a first-degree felony; burglary, a second-degree felony; and theft, also a second-degree felony in 2nd District Court.

The state’s media reports said Salakielu was arrested on Aug. 22, 2018, in connection to the death of Rand Hatch, after Hatch was found dead in his Bountiful home a few days earlier.

Bountiful Police began investigating Hatch’s death after his body was found by his brother on Aug. 19. Hatch’s body had “heavy signs of decomposition” when it was found, according to court documents, and an autopsy uncovered blunt force trauma to his head, including a broken jaw and skull fractures.

Police found a jail identifying document and a jail booking slip belonging to Salakielu at the scene, court documents say.

Salakielu was located on Aug. 21 and brought into the Bountiful Police Department for questioning, where he allegedly told detectives that he knew Hatch and that he had gotten into a “verbal altercation with the victim but denied that any physical altercation had taken place.”

A witness, who was interviewed multiple times by police, later said there had been a physical altercation between Salakielu and the victim. The witness and Salakielu had allegedly lived with Hatch earlier in August 2018, but he’d kicked them out.

Salakielu and the witness later returned to Hatch’s residence, where Salakielu allegedly snuck in a window and let her in via the front door. She told police that she saw Salakielu hit the victim.

“She heard the victim moaning and she stated that she then left the house. The defendant exited the residence a short time later,” court documents say.

The victim’s 2007 Silver Infiniti was missing from the home when his body was discovered, and the witness said she and Salakielu allegedly left the area in the car. The car was later found abandoned in Sunset. Salakielu lived in the area, police say.

Hatch had last spoken to a witness on Aug. 10 and records show that his phone was last used during the early morning hours of Aug. 11, court records say. His phone was in the area of Sunset later in the day.

Salakielu has been held without bail in the Davis County Jail since his initial arrest. He has also been charged in several other domestic violence-related cases since his arrest.

On Jan. 16, he was sentenced to 180 days in jail after pleading guilty to one count of third-degree felony assault that occurred in July 2018. A no-contact protective order was granted to the victim in this case, which Salakielu violated on Dec. 4, 2018, when he made up to 30 calls to the victim from Davis jail.

Salakielu pleaded guilty to six counts of violation of a protective order, a third-degree felony, and was sentenced to 180 days jail, receiving credit for 155 days served.

On Friday, he was charged with an additional seven counts of violation of the same protective order in 2nd District Court. Salakielu allegedly called the victim from jail on Jan. 13 and Jan. 15, just days before his assault sentencing hearing.

During his sentencing hearing, the judge ordered Salakielu to have no contact with the victim and contact would be a violation of probation. He allegedly called the victim on Jan. 17 and multiple times on Jan. 18 and 19.

Salakielu’s initial court appearance for the murder charge is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 11.

Mormon digitising of Tonga’s records would benefit country, Deputy PM Sika says

By

Kalino Latu

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20/02/2019

The Mormon church’s plan to digitise Tonga’s births, deaths, marriage and other documents would benefit the nation, Deputy Prime Minister Semisi Sika said today.

Hon. Sika, who is also a Mormon, said the government could not digitise its official records.

He said the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Family Search programme could access the government records.

Hon. Sika said if a tsunami or fire destroyed the buildings where the records were kept that would be the end of it.

He told Kaniva news Tonga was not the only country to allow the Mormons to digitise its records.

He said the Mormon applied to digitise the records during Lord Tu’ivakano’s government.

Final endorsement

He said the Pōhiva government finally approved the church’s application after it was submitted through the Ministry of Justice.

Hon. Sika said the application was then returned to the Ministry of Justice for processing.

He said the process was slow but he was following it up.

“This will benefit and bless our country,” he said.

What is FamilySearch?

FamilySearch, formally known as the Genealogical Society of Utah, was founded in 1894. It is dedicated to preserving family records.

According to the Latter Day Saints’ Family Search website, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the primary benefactor for FamilySearch services.

It said members of the church used family history records to perform baptisms, marriages and other church rites.

These include baptising on behalf of the dead, a rite in which a living person stands in as a proxy for a dead relative.

However, the names of the dead who have had baptisms performed for them are not added to the membership records of the Church.

FamilySearch holds more than three billion records and offers services which include image capturing, digital conversion, preservation, online indexing and access.

Tonga not the only country to take part

Last year South Australia partnered with the Mormon to digitise its official records including social welfare records, family history, and school admissions.

Other states of Australia including Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania have also had agreements with the Mormon in the past.

“The partnership with FamilySearch allows us to increase that reach so that members of the public who live in regional areas who aren’t able to get to our Gepps Cross site or who live nterstate or overseas, are able to actually access the records of the state of South Australia,” Director of State Records of South Australia, Simon Froude told ABC Radio in Adelaide.

In 2013 the Papua New Guinea government announced that it had partnered with the Mormon to digitise the nation’s birth, death and marriage archives in an effort to protect the records from decay and natural disaster.

Hon. Sika said he understood the Niuean government has just agreed to let the Mormons digitise its records before the latest tropical cyclone struck the country and destroyed its archives.

Not everyone happy with the project

In 2001 it was reported that the New Zealand Internal Affairs Department had considered handing over four million births and deaths records to the Mormons in the United States as one option for preserving the old documents.

However, the proposal upset the Maori community which said it could have led to their ancestors being posthumously baptised as Mormons.

At the time, the Wellington Tenths Trust managing trustee Peter Love condemned the proposal.

Mormon authorities could not be reached for comment.

The main points

The Mormon church’s plan to digitise Tonga’s births, deaths, marriage and other documents would benefit the nation, Deputy Prime Minister Semisi Sika said today.
Hon. Sika, who is also a Mormon, said the government could not digitise its official records.

For more information

About Family search

Why does the Mormon Church want state records? And what do they do with them?

Elderly woman, Susana Tonga, killed in US fire

By

Kalino Latu

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20/02/2019

An elderly woman died in a house fire in San Mateo, US this morning.

The 85-year-old woman was found in a home in the 100 block of South Humboldt St.