Lawyer seeks urgent hearing

By Lanuola Tupufia – Ah Tong 28 September 2016, 12:00AM

Komisi Koria, the lawyer representing suspended Police Commissioner, Fuiavailiili Egon Keil, is seeking an urgent hearing date for a motion to quash the charges against his client. 

In the Supreme Court, Mr. Koria requested the Chief Justice, His Honour Patu Tiava’asue Falefatu Sapolu to consider his client’s position in government.

The request follows an indication from His Honour Patu that the next available hearing date would be the week beginning 16th January 2017. 

But Mr. Koria pleaded for an earlier hearing date, pointing out the hearing will only take about an hour.

The lawyer from the National Prosecution Office, Lucy Sio, did not have any issue with the request.  

Chief Justice Patu then accepted the request and granted the hearing to be called on Friday, 7 October 2016, given it’s going to be an hour.

Fuiavailiili is facing charges including unlawful detaining of a person, disorderly conduct in a public place, perjury and making a false statement in relation to the wrongful arrest of a member of the public. 

Last week, Mr. Koria sought to quash the charges questioning the legitimacy of charges against his client. 

“Given the poor state of the file that has been provided to us, the obvious lack of evidence behind the way that charges have been filed, it is in our application that the police charges need to be quashed in Court to avoid further prejudice of evidence,” said Mr. Koria. 

“You cannot charge a person with an offence of perjury and not particularize what the statement is that he has allegedly made.”

By Lanuola Tupufia – Ah Tong 28 September 2016, 12:00AM
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