A man serving four years and six months in jail for conspiring to murder the former Prime Minister filed an application to allow fresh evidence before the Court of Appeal. 

Lemai Faioso Sione is one of three defendants currently serving imprisonment time concerning a plot to murder Member of Parliament for Lepa and former Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi. 

His application to admit fresh evidence was made by his lawyers Josephine Fuimaono Sapolu and Unasa Iuni Sapolu this week and was heard before the Court of Appeal. 

Chief Justice Satiu Simativa Perese, Justice Asher and Justice William Young presided over the matter. 

The fresh evidence is from Michael Toevai who also testified in court and was cross examined by the prosecution. 

Toevai testified that he discovered a letter in a case file belonging to Samoa Solidarity International Group (S.S.I.G.) that he was a secretary of and Lemai was the treasurer. 

He told the court the author of the letter was Taulai Leiloa, one of the co-defendants in the proceeding. He was the first defendant to have stood trial and admitted to the charges. 

Toevai said the letter was dated November 2021 and noted his affidavit states that the author was Taualai as mentioned in the letter.  

He said he did not receive the letter personally and had only found it in the S.S.I.G. files after Lemai’s trial. 

The witness, a commercial farmer from Afega, said he found the letter and asked Lemai why he had not presented the letter and was told that he had been looking for the letter.

Prosecutor Lupematasila Iliganoa Atoa drilled into the authenticity of the letter querying Toevai how he received the letter. She was assisted by Joshua Leung Wai during the appeal matters. 

The witness maintained that it was not given to him but was found in the S.S.I.G. files. 

It was also put to Toevai that he does not know if the letter was written by Lemai or someone else, and he replied yes. 

Lupematasila asked the witness if the letter was available during the trial. He said it wasn’t Lemai who had been looking for it but was surprised when he told him about it. 

 Lemai was trialed with Malele Paulo also known as King Faipopo last year and both were found guilty of conspiring to murder Tuilaepa. 

Paulo was sentenced to four years in jail while Taualai was serving five years. 

The last co-defendant of the case is Talalelei Pauga who is yet to stand trial and due to this, the court has suppressed the details of the case until his proceeding concludes.