A former employee of the Ministry for Customs and Revenue who posted defamatory and threatening words towards two Supreme Court judges on his Facebook page has been fined $1,500 tala.
Iakopo Falefatu posted on his Facebook page on the 1st of June 2021, that he was walking around with a “38 revolver” and that a bullet should be “put in the head” of Senior Supreme Court Justice Vui Clarence Nelson, and Justice Niava Mata Tuatagaloa.
He accused the Supreme Court judges of being dishonest and said they handed down a wrong decision.
“Makuai pepelo lava ma sese o le Faamasinoga. E leai se isi e talitonu iai. O au lea ou te fealuai ma la’u faga toluvalu, ua kakau oga kuu se pulu i le muaulu o Mata Tuatagaloa ma Vui Clarence Nelson.”
The former government employee was responding to a court decision handed down during Samoa’s political crisis, that declared void the seat of Aliimalemanu Alofa Tuuau, previously declared the 6th women in Parliament by the Electoral Commissioner.
In the District Court this week, Judge Leota Raymond Schuster reminded the defendant of the seriousness of the charges against him, but let him off with a warning and a fine of $1500 tala.
Mr Falefatu is to pay the Court fine by the 31st of January 2022, or face 8 months in prison.
Iakopo Falefatu had been working for the Ministry of Customs and Revenue for six years before the incident in June 2021. He lost his job this year when he was charged.
