court cases

The latest incident occurred when a video of bail proceedings for one of the accused in the death of an MP's son was posted on social media.

According to Talamua Online, the Ministry of Justice has laid a complaint with police who are looking for the person and charges are expected to follow.

Filming and photography of court proceedings is prohibited, but last week a 'live' video was posted during the hearing of the bail application by Herman Westerlund.

Chief Justice Patu Tiavaasue Falefatu Sapolu reprimanded some police officers for failing to bring accused persons in their custody to court on time for their cases to be heard.

When questioned about the delay by Chief Justice, the accused persons said they were told by the police officers that they would be taken to court whenever they wanted because they had the authority.

Police Spokesperson Su’a Muliaga Tiumalu acknowledged this laxity saying it is being addressed.

Another four cases are for not satisfying the three years residential requirement under the law, and two for being convicted on a criminal offense.

These challenges were all mentioned before Chief Justice Patū Tiava’asu’e Falefatu Sapolu and Justice Lesatele Rapi Va’ai .

Seven of the applicants have applied for an order to disqualify a respondent as a candidate, while two applicants are applying for a declaratory order.

This was confirmed by the Ministry of Justice senior Registrar Ve’a Fa’atasi.

The challenges are on the eligibility of the candidates through their services – monotaga – to the villages or districts they are standing for next month’s general elections.

The first case mentioned in Court today, was the challenge by Fiame Naomi Mata’afa against Fiaola Iosua Lole who is the only other candidate challenging Fiame for the Lotofaga constituency. The claim against Fiaola is based on a previous traffic conviction.