Law & Order
Senior Reporter faces Defamation Charge
Apia, Samoa – 20 May 2025 – Talamua Media’s Senior Journalist and President of the Journalists Association of Samoa, Lagi Keresoma has been charged with one count of defamation and will appear in Court next month.
The charge stems from an article Seeking HOS help to withdraw criminal charges inappropriate she wrote and published on Talamua Online News on 1st May 2025.
Ms. Keresoma said she was summoned twice to the police station and the police suggested the option for her to apologise publicly and to the complainant and the complaint to be withdrawn.
“To apologise is an admission that the story is wrong, so after speaking to my lawyer and my editor, it was decided to have the police file their charges, but no apology from my end,” said Keresoma.
Her lawyer also contacted the police investigating officer informing that her client was not making a statement but to prepare the charges against her.
Ms. Keresoma was summoned to the police headquarters on Saturday and Sunday and the charges were only finalized yesterday morning before she was released.
The case involves a former police officer who is charged with allegedly forging the signature of a guarantor for a $200,000 loan from the Samoa National Provident Fund.
At the time of the offence, the complainant, a senior police officer was on travel duty overseas.
The defendant is facing two counts of forgery and has entered a not guilty plea and the hearing is set for September.