Samoa court

Maiava Visekota Peteru announced her suspension to local media, saying she planned to challenge it.

The president of the Law Society, Leiataualesa Komisi Kora said it had received several complaints about Maiava, which are under investigation.

The accused has had to surrender his passport and is required to sign at police headquarters in Apia every week.

The registrar was arrested last week during a police investigation into a firearm that went missing from the court exhibit room.

The police said the weapon had gone missing six years ago but was found in the possession of another man last week.

That person is also facing criminal charges.

The plaintifs - a priest, a pastor and a relative - were suing TV1 over a public notice from one of their family was broadcast on the station three years ago.

The purpose of the notice was to stop the plaintiffs from using the Stowers family name because they are not connected in blood or by adoption.

Father Muli'au Matulino, Tupa'i Farani Mulitalo Poe and Afa Mulitalo Poe, through their lawyer argued they were descendants of the family name and that the broadcast notice defamed them.

Leulua'ialii was suing Justice Fisher, the President of the Samoa Court of Appeal, for an alleged breach of her rights when he made comments during an appeal hearing last year.

The plaintiff in her submission said the respondent had called her incompetent, amongst other insults, during the hearing.

But the Appeal Court has upheld the Supreme Court decision to strike out the action.

The Court has also ruled the plaintiff must pay the respondents $US15 thousand dollars costs.

Leulua'ialii said she will now take her case to the International Human Rights court.

The ruling said this was because the church minister and appellant's right to observance of the principles of natural justice were not honoured.

Reverend Kerita's lawyer Leulua'ialii Olinda Woodroffe said the decision of the court of appeal would be good lesson for the all church leaders to follow.

"The churches take a lot of money from the people and we need to change the attitude of ministers. They are not God. They go to church that supposedly help the people to embrace values that are written in the bible, but they don't."

Chang is being represented by Aumua Ming Leung Wai while the prosecution is yet to determine who will prosecute the case.

In court were Satiu Simativa Perese, an independent lawyer from New Zealand hired by the Attorney General’s Office and Brenda Heather Latu who says she has been delegated by the NPO.

The two prosecutors took up most of the time in court debating whether and who is more suitable by law to take on the task of prosecuting the case.

RNZ reports the victim had sought help of the Samoa Victim Support Group to lodge a complaint against the police on how they had handled a protection order issued by the court against the defendant.

The police said the woman was attacked by the defendant, Auvale Taumata Bragovits, in the early hours of the morning when she went to a morning mass in a catholic church in her village in October last year.

In her ruling Justice Mata Tuatagaloa, rejected a submission by the defence counsel asking the court to consider the victim had also to be blamed for what had happened.