lawyer

Suspended Samoan lawyer faces another battle to clear name

He was found guilty last month of two counts of assaulting his ex-wife and daughter.

The court discharged Pa'u without conviction.

However, Pa'u is facing one count of obtaining by deception relating to a dispute with a local contractor who built his house back in 2015.

The prosecution argues the contractor's tools and building equipment's were unlawfully held by Pa'u as a result of the dispute.

The charge was initially dismissed in a 2018 trial but the court of appeal ruled last year for the decision to be set aside and for the court to re-hear the matter.

Court hearing in Samoa adjourned over alleged death threat

Her mother and lawyer, Unasa Iuni Sapolu, who appeared on her daughter's instructions, has told the court the death threat is against the whole family.

She did not say who is behind the threat.

The judge questioned if the threat was credible or just nonsense on social media.

Unasa said the police have been informed about the threat.

However, the police in Samoa said they were waiting for evidence from the complainant before they will undertake any investigation.

Meanwhile, the court has adjourned the civil hearing on 9 September.

Samoan lawyer censured by judge after ATM trial

Lawyer, Tuisa Tasi Patea, was chastised for his work as defence lawyer for recently-convicted Romanian fraudster, Catalin Raazvan, the Samoa Observer reports.

Raazvan was found guilty on dozens of charges related to his use of counterfeit cards to steal money from Bank South Pacific automated teller machines (ATM) in Samoa.

But the district court judge, Alalatoa Rosella Papali'i, took issue with the way the lawyer, who is a former Member of Parliament, presented evidence.

Lawyer calls for marijuana to be legalised in Samoa

Unasa Iuni Sapolu told the Samoa Observer that legalisation could help the country economically through exports for medicinal purposes.

Unasa said legalising the drug would also save the government money by reducing prison numbers.

She said the government would no longer have to pay to house and feed some drug offenders in prisons.

Unasa told the newspaper that the government could also boost revenue from tourism by allowing the recreational use of marijuana.

"It's just a plant, legalize it and reduce government indebtedness," she said.

 

Lawyer barred from acting in long-running Samoa land case

Maria Kolotita Kirita Pune first had her land case heard in the Supreme Court in 2003.

There have been a number of legal moves since but the elderly women's land, in a prime commercial area, was eventually sold to the wife of the attorney-general.