Veteran Tongan cop jailed for assault

A veteran Tongan police officer has been jailed for a year for assaulting and injuring a man in custody after two senior New Zealand policemen heard the injured man calling for help.

The New Zealanders told the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court that they had never seen such tight cuffs as the ones that caused severe swelling on the victim's wrists, Matangi Tonga newspaper reported.

Tonga's Chief Justice Anthony Ford - another New Zealander - sentenced Viliami Toki, 41 to two years imprisonment, and said the sentence would deter other police officers from taking the law into their own hands.

The last year of the policeman's sentence was suspended for three years on release - meaning he will effectively serve only one year in jail.

A jury of seven found Toki guilty last month on the three charges of causing bodily harm and two common assault charges.

The court was told that Toki, a lance-corporal in the police, repeatedly assaulted Manu Lolohea who had escaped from police custody at the Nuku'alofa Police Station on December 16, 2008.

Manu was carried into the station with his hands tied to his back with a rope. Toki then put his own handcuffs on Manu then punched and assaulted him on the floor.

A 22-year-old police constable told the court that he saw Toki punch Manu on the face and he fell back on the floor. Toki then continued to kick him on his chest and forehead.

Evidence showed that the handcuffs Toki used were a kind that became tighter when the victim moved.

Toki went home with the keys of the cuffs. He was called back to the station to remove the cuffs but when Manu asked to go to the toilet told him there was no such thing as going to the toilet and left the cuffs on, punching the victim and standing on his handcuffed hand.

Chief Justice Ford said it was not until the next morning two New Zealand policemen heard Manu calling for help and arranged for the cuffs to be removed.

The Chief Justice told Toki that it took a month and a half for the victim's injuries to heal.

- NZPA