BRIAN BENJAMIN LOMA —

During a High Court status hearing last Friday, Chief Justice Michael Kruse explained to defendant, Brian Benjamin Loma, the disadvantage of not having an attorney present to argue his case in court.

Loma’s attorney Mark Ude was not present at the hearing and the defendant has been unable to locate Ude, and this prompted concern from the court, as its been alleged on island that Ude has left the territory.

At the status hearing, assistant attorney general Gerald Murphy said he was representing the government, while at the defense table, Loma said he was representing himself, since his attorney Ude was not there.

Kruse asked if the defendant has paid money to Ude, and Loma replied “yes”. Samoa News observed Kruse shaking his head. Murphy told the court that the government is waiting for contact from Loma’s attorney so the case could move forward, but Loma says he can no longer afford another private attorney because he has no job to get money to pay for legal representation.

The Chief Justice told Loma that the Public Defender’s Office can represent him, but the defendant explained that he was initially represented by the PD’s Office, but he didn’t want them anymore and it was the reason he retained Ude for his private attorney.

The court has since continued the status hearing to another time, once the government and the defense has had time to hold discussions. The court recommended that the defendant obtain legal representation unless Loma still wants to represent himself going forward.

Loma, who’s out on bail, is charged with drug possession following an incident in October 2015 when he was found with marijuana by customs agents at the airport, upon arrival on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Honolulu.

 Loma, who at the time resided on the US mainland, was visiting relatives in the territory and has been unable to return to the US due to his felony case still pending in court.

COURT RAISES QUESTION ON VILLAGE RULES

A case in which two men are accused of assaulting another man who refused to remove the ‘ie lavalava, or a piece of material that was used by the victim to cover his head, prompted District Court Judge Fiti Sunia to question Assistant Attorney General, Woodrow Pengelly, if the Attorney General has the authority to enforce village rules in various villages.

Sunia’s question, during last Thursday’s court proceedings, came after the two defendants — Reopoamo Samu and Paulo Filemoni — told the court that they were taken into custody by police, because of an incident in their village not long ago. The pair claimed that a village matai had called out to the victim walking in the village to remove the lavalava covering his head.

However, the defendants claimed the victim refused and this resulted in the two defendants assaulting the victim.

Sunia then wanted to know if the village matai had ordered the defendants to assault the victim, but the pair said no, adding that they assaulted the victim for failing to comply with the village matai’s verbal order.

According to court information, Samu has plead guilty to misdemeanor public peace disturbance, while Filemoni plead guilty to misdemeanor third degree assault, under a plea agreement with the government that has been accepted by the court.

Sunia asked Samu to explain for the court the village rule that bans a person from walking within the village while his or her head is covered with a lavalava. “What happens if its a hot sunny day” is the ban still effective, to which Samu said he doesn’t know the answer.

The judge said the two defendants had no right to interfere with another person walking in the village while covering their head with a lavalava. Additionally, neither defendants are matai or village mayors with the authority to enforce village rules.

Sunia shared with the government the court’s concerns with these types of cases coming before the court where there are moves in villages to enforce village rules, but the matters end up in the justice system.

For the two defendants, Sunia sentenced each to six months probation, which includes several conditions to abide with, such as each person is to perform 30 hours of community service under the supervision of the Probation Office.

NORMAN SAGAPOLUTELE

A man accused of using a Samoan cricket bat to assault another man, has been sentenced to serve two consecutive weeks at the Territorial Correctional Facility, starting this past weekend, and to pay a $100 fine.

The jail term is among the conditions of Norman Sagapolutele’s six months probation. The defendant was initially charged with two misdemeanor counts of public peace disturbance and third degree assault.

However, under a plea agreement, which was accepted by the court, the defendant pled guilty to public peace disturbance and the other count was dismissed.

For the guilty plea, Sagapolutele admitted to assaulting another man using a Samoan cricket bat. He said the assault occurred after he was tackled by the victim while trying to catch a cricket ball.

No other specific details were available during sentencing as to when the assault occurred and whether it was during a friendly cricket game or competition.

Assistant attorney general Woodrow Pengelly strongly argued for probation without any jail term, saying that the matter was not serious. That prompted Sunia to raise his voice towards the prosecutor, who was then informed by the judge as to what a Samoan cricket bat looks like and that a person uses two hands to swing the bat.

Sunia then turned his attention to Sagapolutele, saying, “Sir, you are lucky the government didn’t charge you with a felony” and the defendant is lucky as the victim didn’t suffer serious injuries due to the use of a cricket bat.

FA’AFETAI GAUPULE

The District Court early last week set bail at $500 for Fa’afetai Gaupule, during his initial appearance where he was charged with two misdemeanor counts of third degree assault and trespassing.

The charges against Gaupule stem from an incident two weeks ago, when he went to another family’s home and assaulted a man there.

The court then learned that Gaupule has an outstanding fine of $500 owed to the court from 2016. So the court set bail at $500, which is also the amount of the fine not paid by Gaupule.

If he is able to post bail, Gaupule is prohibited from making any contact with the victim. Other conditions of bail include that he be a law abiding citizen.