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Court Report

Translated by Samoa News staff

TUMUATASI LEFATIA

The High Court has continued until later next month a hearing on whether it has accepted a plea agreement between the government and a woman, who is believed to be the owner of Le Aute Bar.

Tumuatasi Lefatia was charged in March last year, following a police raid of the Le Aute Bar, with one count of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, and three counts of unlawful possession of a weapon.

But under a plea agreement reached with the government and read in court in August this year, one of the three misdemeanor counts was amended to illegal possession of firearm ammunition, which the defendant pleads guilty to, while the rest of the charges were to be dismissed. It also said that during the March 2015 raid of the defendant’s home, police found 25 bullets belonging to a .22 caliber gun.

At the time the court took under advisement the plea agreement and the defendant, who is out on bail appeared last week Thursday for her plea hearing, but both the government and the defense sought a two-week continuance.

However, the court set a new hearing date for Dec. 30 because the court calendar is very busy during the time frame requested by both sides.

ONOSA’I TOELUPE

The District Court has sentenced Onosa’i Toelupe to 12 months probation after he was convicted of misdemeanor stealing while the other misdemeanor count of public peace disturbance was dismissed under a plea agreement with the government and accepted by the court.

The charge against the defendant was the result of an incident this year where Toelupe took construction equipment from the bed of a pickup truck parked in front of a store in Tafuna. According to court information Toelupe sold the equipment to a friend.

During sentencing this week, the defendant apologized to the court and District Court Judge Fiti A. Sunia advised the defendant to find a permanent job to earn money instead of stealing.

The defendant was ordered, as conditions of his probation, to pay a $125 fine and be a law-abiding citizen. The court used the 3-days of pre trial confinement of the defendant as part of his sentence.

TAVITA IOELU

The High Court has continued for 30 days the probation hearing for Tavita Ioelu, while the Probation Office looks at confirming the defendant’s testimony that he has applied to many local companies but none of them have hired him.

Among the conditions of Ioelu’s probation handed down last year, when sentenced for burglary is that he pays a $1,000 fine and finds a permanent job so he can earn money within the first six months of his 5-year probation.

However, during a probation hearing this week in court, it was revealed that it has been nearly 12 months since the defendant was sentenced and he has yet to secure a permanent job. When asked by acting associate justice Elvis P. Patea why he hasn’t found a job, Ioelu responded that he has been looking for a job all this time and have filled out applications at stores and other businesses including the canneries. However, Ioelu said he is still waiting for someone to hire him.

Ioelu told the court that he suspects that it’s his conviction that is making it difficult for him to get a job.

Patea continued Ioelu’s probation hearing to later next month, saying that the court along with the Probation Office will work on confirming the defendant’s statement. And if the testimony is found to be untruthful, Ioelu was warned that his probation may be revoked.

Meanwhile, in the District Court, more individuals are violating probation conditions set by the court. Over the weekend 10 individuals were taken into custody for various misdemeanor offenses and made their initial appearances of Monday.

Among them are four individuals, who were recently sentenced to probation after, being convicted of the misdemeanor, with two of them now charged with third degree assault in separate cases and the other pair charged with public peace disturbance.

Court information shows that the four individuals were intoxicated at the time of their offense. Additionally, two of them, are accused of assaulting their wives. And for these two individuals, accused of assaulting their wives, they were ordered to each post $500 bail.

For the other two, they were released without bail and all four will have their next court appearance later this month.