Lord Chief Justice Bishop KC sentenced Viliami Taulafo at the Supreme Court in Nuku’alofa on 16 October.[1] Taulafo, aged 34, pleaded guilty to possessing cannabis and unlawful possession of utensils.[1] He is married with four children aged between two and 10 years.[1] He works as a self-employed farmer and part-time stevedore at Faua Wharf.[1]
Police raided his Talafo’ou residence on 26 February after receiving information that he was supplying cannabis from there.[1] Officers found him on the veranda with seven packets of suspected cannabis on a wooden bed in front of him, plus a plastic bag of cannabis leaves and a smoking pipe.[1] In his bedroom police found 1,260 pa’anga and scattered cannabis leaves.[1] In total, he was found in possession of 200.98 grams of cannabis.[1]
The court set a starting point of two years imprisonment for the possession count.[1] After a six-month reduction for his early guilty plea and remorse, the court imposed 18 months imprisonment, with a concurrent nine-month term on the utensils count.[1] He had previous convictions that did not involve drugs.[1] The defendant was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, fully suspended for two years.[1] The suspension requires probation, no offence punishable by imprisonment, and completion of a Salvation Army life-skills and drug-abuse programme within 12 months.[1] He must also complete 100 hours of community service.[1] The court ordered the cannabis and utensils to be destroyed.[1]