Judge Calls Out Police for Abuse of Process

By Lagi Keresoma

Apia, Samoa – 10 March 2024: District Court Judge Alalatoa Papalii Rosella Papalii has called out police’s abuse of process when they applied for an interim order against two defendants in a contempt of court matter.

The defendant Leatupu’e Fata Malakai and his brother of Tufulele are charged with contempt of court when they refused to adhere to a Lands and Titles Court decision 2009 to vacate a certain land at Tufulele.

Last Friday, police applied for an interim order to remove the defendants, however, Judge Papalii noted that the application is based on a 2009 Lands and Titles Court decision of which the defendants were not party to the court hearing.

Judge Papalii also emphasized to the police prosecutor that an interim order cannot be issued upon a final court decision especially when the people the interim order is intended were not involved in the 2009 court case.

The police prosecutor said there was a mix up in the names of the disputed lands and the years the decisions were delivered then went on to detail the years of court hearing and the decisions delivered that go back to 2007, 2009, 2013 and 2015.

“It does not matter whether it’s a decision of 2009 or 2015, the fact remains that LTC had issued a final decision and the court cannot issue any other order when a final decision is n place,” said Judge Papalii.

She again reminded the prosecutor that both defendants were not party to the 2009 hearing where the order to vacate the disputed land was issued.

“I am not going to mix my words, but what you are doing is abuse of process” she said.

Judge Papalii told the police prosecutor that what they should have applied for is an Enforcement Order but they need to consider the ingredients of the charges against the defendants bearing in mind the defendants were not party to the 2009 decision.

She then asked prosecutor for their next move to which they applied to amend their charging documents.

Judge Papalii granted the application and to be fair to the defendants, she asked police prosecutor to provide all trial files to the defence counsel which they will view when the matter is recalled in two weeks time.

In adjourning the matter, she said the application for an interim order should never have been brought before her.