The Supreme Court on Friday jailed two men for conspiracy to murder the former prime minister Tuilaepa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi.

Presided over by the Senior Supreme Court Judge, Justice Vui Clarence Nelson, the court jailed defendant Malele Paulo otherwise known as King Faipopo for four years, and his co-defendant Lemai Faioso Sione for four and a half years.

Paulo and Sione were found guilty by a panel of assessors in March this year. The third defendant in the matter, Talalelei Pauga, who is also known as Ninja, remains in Australia and is yet to stand trial on the same charge. The trio had maintained their plea of not guilty to the charge. 

Justice Vui issued orders to suppress the media from publishing evidence of the case as the co-defendant Pauga is yet to be extradited to Samoa to stand trial. 

The fourth defendant, Taualai Leiloa who was on the same charge, pleaded guilty to the joint charge of conspiracy to murder in December 2020 and is currently serving a five-year prison term.

Justice Vui took four years as the starting point for Paulo’s sentence and said more time is to be added because of the defendant’s previous convictions with the the same victim. There were no supporting letters for Paulo – either from the church or any work he did in the community, according to the Senior Justice. 

He noted Paulo as devoid of character and the only mitigating factor considered in relation to his penalty is caring for his father which led to two months getting deducted from his sentence. Paulo was previously convicted by the District Court and jailed for seven weeks in relation to a criminal libel matter in 2019 when he was sued for defaming Tuilaepa. 

As for his co-defendant Lema’i, the court took six years as the starting point for his sentence, which was reduced to four and a half years after it was deducted in light of mitigating factors. 

The different starting point for Lemai and Paulo is due to the gravity of their offending and involvement. The facts for Leiloa’s matter noted that the four men had planned to murder Tuilaepa at Siusega Catholic Cathedral in August 2019. 

Lemai was represented by lawyer Unasa Iuni Sapolu while Paulo was not represented by a legal counsel. 

A request from Paulo for another three months to find a lawyer was denied by the Court. The court assigned a legal aid lawyer to represent Paulo earlier in the proceedings but that lawyer withdrew due to differences with the defendant. 

Paulo had also asked the court for a different lawyer just on the eve of being sentenced in the same proceedings.