Samoan man gets jail time for the death of his nephew

A Samoan man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of his nephew has been sentenced to five years and six months in jail.

Sentencing for Afele Tiatia was handed down by Supreme Court judge, Leiataualesa Darryl Clarke.

The victim, a 14-year-old nephew of the defendant, swore at his grandmother, the defendant's mother, provoking the Tiatia to slap him and hit him with firewood.

The teenager died a few days later.

Justice Leiataualesa spoke about the trauma the family suffered with the body of the boy not being released for nine months until a pathologist could get into Samoa to undertake a postmortem, which happened earlier this month.