Neu: 2001-09-26 Contents of this issue:
1. Manslaughter Plea 2. Right Royal Joke ======================================================================== September 26th, 2001 1. Manslaughter Plea: A New Zealand Judge has thrown out a charge of murder against a Tongan planter Atelea Kosini Sakalia who fatally shot his stepmother at Niue a year ago. After the Niue police presented its case before six assesors, Judge Heta Hingston ruled there was insufficient evidence to consider a charge of murder against the 41 year-old accused. Sakalia then pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was remanded in custody for sentence. Judge Hingston said Niue police had no access to expert ballistic or technical forensic testing and it was his perogative by law to have the murder charge dismissed on the grounds of lack of evidence. Earlier he had stopped a police inspector from reading to the Court a statement made by the accused because he considered it breached Judges Rules. Earlier, a 33 year old Tongan woman told how she had been in a room with two children when the accused had threatened to kill her and his stepmother and then commit suicide. The Judge told the witness who wrestled the 12 gauge shotgun from Sakalia after he had shot his stepmother in the face that she was a brave woman. The woman told the Court the accused - a half brother of her husband - wanted to have an affair with her and she had rejected him. Evidence was given that Sakalia had driven to the Niue Catholic Mission and sought sanctuary with a Tongan priest. The police called eight witnesses before the murder charge was thrown out by the Judge. Sakalia will appear before Judge Hingston on Friday ( Niue time) for sentencing on the charge of manslaughter. 2. Right Royal Joke: An American Buddhist who claims to be the world's only official court jester is the star of a political row in the Kingdom of Tonga, which has misplaced millions of dollars it made selling citizenship to Chinese. The nation's tiny legislative assembly launched moves this week to impeach ministers implicated in the scandal, which goes right up to ageing King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV and his son Crown Prince Tupuoto'a. Some $US20 million is missing, a huge amount in a kingdom which has an annual government budget of 86 million pa'anga (38 million dollars). The saga centers on Jesse Bogdonoff from North Carolina, a businessman who also sells magnets to cure back pain, who initially successfully invested the money on behalf of the kingdom. So impressed was the king, he issued a royal decree proclaiming Bogdonoff court jester. In turn, Bogdonoff, a member of Japan's biggest and richest lay Buddhist organization, the Soka Gakkai International, had the group give the king a humanitarian award and an honorary doctorate. But now the kingdom cannot find the millions, apparently moved by Bogdonoff from the U.S. bank account in which it was held. "It looks like the money has all gone; it looks like we are the laughing stock of the world again," said Member of Parliament Teisina Fuko, spearheading moves to get to the bottom of the scandal.(AFP) __END__
