Staff Reporter
A woman defendant has rejected charges alleging harassment of Government leaders, in the hearing of a legal complaint by the ruling FAST Party, started yesterday in the Mulinuu District Court.
Mrs. Perkin Feagia’i Headle, is pleading not guilty to 25 charges under Section 219 of the Crimes Act 2013 and 1 charge under Section 21 of the Police Ordinance 1961, to alleged insulting remarks against genealogy and parentage.
The charges were filed with the police in September 2022 by the FAST Party Secretary.
Her Honour Alalatoa Rosella Papalii is presiding over the matter.
Solicitor Mathew Lemisio is legal counsel for the defendant.
Counsels prosecuting on behalf of the Police are solicitors Leinafo Tamailelagi-Strickland of the Wulf Law Firm and Faithful Dora Sofe-Tuala of the Attorney General’s Office.
The prosecution is calling six witnesses to support the charges with two scheduled to give evidence via visual link.
Laulu Pelepesite Ah Chee, a matai from Faaala Palauli, and Tapuala Levasa Oloapua, a TV commentator, were the first to give evidence for the prosecution.
Laulu was the first to be called and he told the Court that he has been friends with Mrs Headle as a person and since 2015 on the social media platform Facebook.
He said he only knows Mrs Headle as Perkin but now as Salote Syran Tautai.
Salote Syran Tautai is the the name of the Facebook page that Mrs Headle is being accused as the person behind it.
When defense counsel Lemisio pressed whether he was certain Mrs Headle posted materials on the Salote Syran Tautai page, Laulu replied no.
When asked also by Judge Papalii whether he had ever seen Mrs Headle posting content on her personal page in similar nature to contents being complained about, Laulu said no.
Following Laulu’s evidence, Tapuala then took the stand.
He told the Court that he believed Mrs Headle was the person behind this Salote Syran Tautai page, based on a photograph of him and his wife posted on the page.
The photo was taken while boarding a flight from LA to Nadi Fiji in August last year, where he met Mrs Headle and her brother.
Tapuala said the photograph was taken from the angle where Mrs Headle and her brother sat on the flight to Nadi.
Under cross examination, Tapuala admitted he did not see who actually took the photo as there were other people on the plane at that time.
Another photograph became the main topic of a legal issue that Her Honour and counsels had to navigate their way through in order for the trial to progress.
The issue was raised by both the defense counsel and Her Honour on the admissibility of the photographs as the person who took them is not giving evidence in these proceedings.
Her Honour then entertained as a way forward of putting the photographs to the witness but will decide later whether to admit them in evidence or not.
Counsel Lemisio, raised concern over the risk of prejudicial to his client if such evidence are admitted as they are, given the “lack of foundation.”
One of the photographs put to the witness was one allegedly taken at the Nadi International Airport of Tapuala, his wife, daughter and Mrs Headle.
However, Tapuala, who made three separate written statements to the Police, had contradictory recollections of the content of this photograph.
In his first statement, he said that the photo was taken of the three of them – himself with Mrs Headle in the middle and her brother.
In another statement made on the 14th of March 2023, Tapuala said the photo was of him, Mrs Headle, Tapuala’s wife and daughter, though in that statement he said it was his son.
He blamed the Police for the inconsistencies.
Meanwhile, Tapuala read out the contents of the 25 charges against the Mrs Headle, and none was ever posted on the personal facebook page Perkin Headle.
All the content that the charges are based on were posted instead on the facebook page Salote Syran Tautai.
Tapuala could not confirm also that Mrs Headle is the true identity behind the Salote Syran Tautai Facebook page as Laulu also admitted earlier in testimony.
His suspicions were based on a photograph on the Salote Syran Tautai page, which he doesn’t know who took.
Tapuala told the Court under examination that it was him who actually referred all the “screenshots” to the secretary of FAST.
He admitted telling them to do something about it as he was sad with what the contents were saying about the FAST leaders; namely the Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Works, Minister of Labour, Speaker, Associate Minister for Police and party MP Masinalupe Makesi.
Counsel Lemisio then asked Tapuala whether he is a FAST supporter but he did not answer the question directly.
It was then put to him that the reason why he was persistent with these charges was an attempt by him and the FAST Party to silent its critics.
The matter is expected to continue in court today and tomorrow.