Death charges dropped
.PA Suva Four Tongan jugby players flew home from Suva after a decision to drop proceedings against them on manslaughter charges. The four, Malakai Alatini, aged 25, his brother Sione Alatini. aged 20, Hifo Taipaletti, aged 26, and Folafala Vuna. aged 24. had been charged after the death of a Suva man who was injured in a brawl on July 31. After the brawl at a Suva hotel where the Tongan rugby team was staying during its Fiji tour, the injured man, Inoke Bainimara Dobui, aged 20, was unconscious in hospital for six days before he died. A preliminary inquiry had begun in the Magistrate’s Court but the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions (Mr Dyfed Williams) told the Court that he had decided to discontinue the proceedings.
He said it was because of the unreliable nature of the evidence at the inquiry.
“Witnesses in evidence not only conflicted with each other but with statements they had previously given to the police,” he said. The only other witness had since returned to Tonga and there was no judicial process available for extraditing him, Mr Williams said.
The Magistrate, Mr Colin Perrior, then discharged the four.
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Press, 30 August 1977, Page 30
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197Death charges dropped Press, 30 August 1977, Page 30
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