Application to quash the defamation charge<\/strong>
\nThe prosecution’s application for an adjournment prompted defense counsel Faimalomatumua Mathew Lemisio to apply to quash the defamation charge against his client.<\/p>\nHowever, Judge Leota Schuster pointed out to the defense that if they wanted to quash the information against the defendant, then they should not have pleaded to the charge in the first place.<\/p>\n
The defendant entered a not guilty plea to one count of defamation on 02 August 2022 and the matter was adjourned to today for hearing.<\/p>\n
The defense said their application was only made when prosecution asked for an adjournment and that they were only served yesterday about the prosecution’s intention to adjourn the hearing because their witnesses had not been summoned.<\/p>\n
Defense did not oppose the prosecution\u2019s application for an adjournment but did point out that his client resides in Australia and had already sorted out his travel arrangements.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will adjourn this matter to 25 August to hear the application to quash the information against the defendant, and if the application is successful, then that will be the end of it, but if not then we will hear the actual case then on that day,\u201d said Judge Schuster.<\/p>\n
The defendant is based in Australia and the defamation charge stemmed from alleged defamatory comments he made on his radio programs against Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa and the Faatuatua ile Atua Samoa ua Tasi-FAST party.<\/p>\n
The complainant is FAST Secretary Va\u2019aaoao Alofipo with FAST Chairman Laaulialemalietoa Polataivao as a witness.<\/p>\n
No evidence deleted\u00a0<\/strong>
\nMeanwhile, Police Commissioner Auapa\u2019au Logoitino Filipo has\u00a0strongly rejected a report that video evidence critical to the defamation case\u00a0have been deleted.<\/p>\nTalamua<\/em> asked the Police Commissioner for confirmation following inquiries if reports of evidence being deleted were\u00a0true.<\/p>\nThe information of the deleted files did not sit well with\u00a0the Commissioner who wanted to know the source of\u00a0the information.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho said this is not true,\u201d stated Auapa\u2019au.<\/p>\n
He wanted to know the source of the information as he said \u201cit portrays a bad image of the\u00a0police.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also rejected a report that the Police Professional Standards Unit (PSU) was to conduct an internal\u00a0investigation\u00a0to identify the original source of the information.<\/p>\n
The case has been adjourned to 25 August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Lagi Keresoma APIA, SAMOA \u2013 19 AUGUST 2022: The prosecution’s failure to proceed with the hearing of the defamation case against Australian based Samoan radio host, Tiumalumatua Maifea Fetu has further delayed the hearing to 25 August. Prosecutor Jason Tuala asked the\u00a0Court today for an adjournment as their witnesses have not been summoned to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[182,177,209],"tags":[1421,1420,1423,1422,59],"class_list":["post-13429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-court","category-latest","category-media","tag-australia-based-samoa-radio-host","tag-defamation-case","tag-deleted-evidence","tag-fast-party-secretary","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n
Prosecution slackness further delays Defamation Case hearing - Talamua Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/talamua.com\/?p=13429\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prosecution slackness further delays Defamation Case hearing - Talamua Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lagi Keresoma APIA, SAMOA \u2013 19 AUGUST 2022: The prosecution’s failure to proceed with the hearing of the defamation case against Australian based Samoan radio host, Tiumalumatua Maifea Fetu has further delayed the hearing to 25 August. 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