Back and forth for suspended Samoa court president continues

The back and forth legal case of the suspended Samoan Land and Titles court president, Fepulea'i Attila Ropati, continues.

Fepulea'i was charged after an incident last December in which he hit a security guard with a beer bottle.

He went before the District Court in July this year, when he pleaded guilty to actual bodily harm.

The District Court discharged him without conviction but the police appealed.

Last month, the Supreme Court upheld the appeal, quashing the suspended sentence verdict and sending the case back for retrial in the District Court.

On Friday however, the Assistant Attorney General, Rexona Titi, told the District Court the government was appealing the Supreme Court decision to hold the retrial in the lower court.

Defence counsel Aumua Ming Leung Wai also told the court that she was filing a cross appeal based on the move by the Attorney General's Office.

Judge Alalatoa Rosella Papali'i has referred the matter back to the Supreme Court for mention.