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Court Report

WOMAN FOUND IN CONTEMPT OF COURT

Chief Justice Michael Kruse sentenced Fa’alelei Soli for contempt of court after she failed to comply with the agreement she made with the plaintiff in a land matter. Kruse then suspended the sentencing of Soli on the condition that she keep up with the payment plan she had agreed upon with Pepe Tapelu.

This case stems from a land deal, where Tapelu gave Soli $25,000 plus to pay for a piece of property in Tafuna several years ago.

Tapelu found out later that Soli did not have the title to the land and there was also an injunction preventing the sale of the property. Tapelu turned to the court for a refund after she was unsuccessful in getting her money back from Soli.

Soli made an agreement with Tapelu to make payments of $1,000 monthly and the defendant was behind in her payments, so Tapelu again turned to the court.

Tapelu filed an application for contempt of court against Soli for not complying with their agreement. The defendant then made a payment of $5,000 for her missing payments.

FOLASA GALEA’I PRETRIAL CONFERENCE POSTPONED

The High Court has rescheduled another pre-trial conference next week for drug defendant Folasa Galea’i, who is facing unlawful possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine with intent to distribute and unlawful possession of a controlled substance, marijuana, with intent to distribute.

The last continuance was because the defense had yet to receive the discovery report from police. This second continuance was because the defendant’s lawyer was unable to attend court for medical reasons.

Associate Justice Lyle L Richmond granted the request and scheduled another pre-trial conference for November 30, 2012.

According to the government’s case, the defendant claimed a package which was inspected by Customs Agents, and was alleged to contain food stuff, including four cans of whole tomatoes, which agents found (with the help of K9 dogs) to contain what appeared to be illegal substances. The substances found in the package tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana.