Witness in the Lefagaoalii Case Contradicts Evidence

Apia, Samoa – 25 February 2025 – The final prosecution witness in the case where an elderly matai was hog-tied and carried to the village for defying the village council, gave evidence yesterday and her verbal testimony contradicted her written statement.

The witness Seualii Aleki gave evidence as one of the witnesses that saw her uncle Sooialo Manu hog-tied then carried to the village where the Alii ma Faipule were waiting in September 2023.

Her testimony was against four of the defendants whom she said she saw assaulted the victim.

In her statement, she said she was 50 meters away from where the village aumaga –untitled men tied and assaulted Sooialo and she saw one of the defendants hit Sooialo on the back with a stick, the other one kicked him on the mouth.

At the time of these alleged attacks, the witness said Sooialo’s hands and feet were already tied, and he was lying on the ground.

When cross examined, she gave a different account from what she said in her written statement.

She said she was 2 meters away from where the incident happened, and she saw one of the defendants hit Sooialo on the backside with a stick, and the other kicked the victim on the shoulder.

When her statement was read out, she started to struggle with her answers and presiding Justice Leiataualesa Daryl Clarke and defence counsel Alex Su’a kept reminding her to speak louder and clearer.

Su’a measured the 50 meter distance from where the witness was to where the incident took place then pointed out to the witness that it was impossible for her to see what actually took place given the 50 meter distance.

The witness however insisted that her vision was very clear.

Su’a pointed out to the witness that she was not sure of what happened and that is why she contradicted her own written statement.

One of the defendants passed away
There are 11 defendants facing charges of assault, kidnap and causing grievous bodily harm.

Only one of the defendants is charged with attempted murder and armed with a dangerous weapon and is jointly charged with the others.

One of the defendants, Ve’ataulia Ioasa passed away in the weekend and the verdict on the remaining defendants will be delivered once the Court had perused all the evidence from the hearing.