Mercy sought in Court over burning of dead man’s body

Eight people accused of treating a dead man’s body with indignity, when they burnt him and damaged his grave at Tuana’i, yesterday asked the Judge to be merciful.

The defendants made the plea before Supreme Court Justice, His Honour Vui Clarence Nelson.

Of the eight accused, three are women who asked the Judge to consider their children and their families before he delivers his judgment.

The accused are; Solomona Auloa, Uofu Tanielu Samuelu, Fetuli Saimoni, Talalemoe Saimoni, Vesi Pule, Asema Siale, Vito Alofaitama and Simoa Saimoni.

Seven of the accused except Solomona Auloa are jointly charged for one count of intentional damage and one count of misconduct in respect of human remains in relation to an incident on 3rd June 2014.

Solomona Auloa, Talalemoe Saimoni and Uofu Tanielu are also charged with intentional damage and misconduct in respect of human remains in relation to a separate incident on 5th June 2014.

They have all pleaded guilty to the charges against them.

The complainant is a 64-year-old woman of Tuana’i, who is the sister of the dead man.

Before the Court yesterday, Tala Saimoni, of Tuana’i and Sogi, said she regretted her actions.

“I made the wrong decision and I won’t do it again,” she said.

Another mother, Simoa Saimoni, who is charged also with her husband, asked the Judge for his forgiveness.

“Please your Honour, me and my husband care for our children and we ask for mercy,” she said.

Vito Alofaitama, who is married with two children, told the Judge she has a baby. She said she was sorry.

Solomona Auloa also begged for mercy.

“Please your Honour, give me one more chance as I have a family depending on me”.

The complainant also took the floor yesterday.

The woman told the Court that the families have reconciled and the matter has been resolved between the families.

She said she feels that she wants to withdraw the matter.

However, Justice Vui disagreed with her. He told the Court that the matter was serious and the Court needs to deal with it.

His Honour then adjourned the hearing until 15 September.

According to a summary of facts read out in the Court yesterday, on 3rd June 2014 at about 1:00p.m., the accused went to the deceased man's family in Tuana’i where he is buried.

Upon arrival, Tala informed the deceased man’s sister that they were there to burn the deceased man’s grave because he was the reason for their mother being sick.

The complainant did not object.

So immediately, Uofu started demolishing the grave using a sledgehammer.

Fetuli, Vesi, and Simoa all took turns in using the hammer and crowbar to smash the cement at the top of the grave while the complainant and her family were watching.

When the top part of the grave was removed, Fetuli poured kerosene into the grave and lit it.

Uofu, Fetuli and Vesi then threw tires and other rubbish into the grave to burn the deceased’s body inside the grave while Asema helped them turn the deceased remains around using a Poumuli branch.

In the meantime, Vito and Tala were gathering firewood to boil water to be poured into the grave.

On 5th June 2014 at about 11-12p.m., Tala, Uofu and Solomona went back to the deceased man's grave and burnt the rest of his remains.

Uofu and Solomona threw firewood into the grave and poured kerosene inside before they lit it.

The matter was reported to police on 5th June 2014 and the defendants were later apprehended and taken to the Afega Police Station.

The maximum penalty for the charge of intentional damage is seven years imprisonment and two years maximum for the charge of misconduct in respect of human remains.