P.M. whines at "irresponsible" court decisions

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sa'ilele Malielegaoi has whined at a Court Judge for making what he described as “irresponsible” decisions which led to an individual continuing to re-offend.

Tuilaepa made the claim on Sunday evening during the Taimi ma le Palemia program in relation to a man who was charged by the Police over a raid on Friday which led to the confiscation of 15 weapons, including high powered rifles and illegal handguns.

Defendant 44-year-old Ipuauro Uli Sagote of Faleula and Lalomalava was taken into Police custody last Thursday afternoon and is facing charges over the possession of unlawful firearms as well as paraphernalia that allegedly associated with the manufacture and consumption of narcotics.

According to the Prime Minister, the court has previously granted Sagote bail three times in relation to his previous crimes and they [court] are completely ignoring the safety of the general public as well as the police officers.

“To me, it is very irresponsible and the court must not, especially the judge, that’s easily granting bail for people to be released, hence why the Government is stressing these cases because it looks like they are living on a different planet,” he said.

“They are completely ignorant of the reality in which the Police are trying to protect our people. And doing such decisions can harm the lives of the police officers.

“Therefore, with the court cases which he makes such foolish decisions like this to, the advice to the commission looking after this is to revisit deeper into this.

“The police officers are suffering and trying their best to protect our country while you play with these court decisions as if they’re games by releasing these criminals while you know very well he was imprisoned three times and was also bailed out three times.”

Police Commissioner, Fuiavailiili Egon Keil, also confirmed that this is not the first time the Faleula property has been raided by the Police.

“And we have arrested the same individual for the third time for a [similar] type of offence.

“This individual comes out again on bail and gets arrested again for a similar type of activity and he goes back in and he’s bailed out again. He comes out and this is what we find.”

The Police will also target those people who are selling drugs in Samoa, added Fuiavailiili.

“We will continue to clean up what we do not need in Samoa to keep Samoa a little bit safer. We don’t need hard drugs, and these weapons and the handguns can be easily hidden inside vehicles.”

The Commissioner further noted that the suspect’s house is located in a residential area where drugs and guns will be present.

“And when those things are mixed, someone will die and we don’t want that,” he added.

According to the Police Commissioner, the accused has been remanded in the Tanumalala Prison and will appear in court on 28 August this year for his criminal mention.

Fuiavailiili also commended the men and women for their actions in the raid and their continued service to the people of Samoa.