Eletise Leafa Vitale is the son of Women's Affairs Minister Leafa Vitale, who, along with former Communications Minister Toi Aukuso, conspired to assassinate the Prime Minister Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi, the Chief Justice, the Minister of Justice, and New Zealand's High Commissioner to Samoa.[1]
On the night of 16 July 1999, during celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the ruling Human Rights Protection Party, he shot the Minister of Works Luagalau Levaula Kamu in the back. He pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to death by hanging on 6 August 1999 by Justice Andrew Wilson.[2][3] His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the head of state.[4]
Vitale was granted parole in 2010, but rearrested for breach of parole in 2019.[5]
References
edit- ^ Marks, Kathy (April 14, 2000). "Ministers' hitman taints Pacific paradise island". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2010.
- ^ "SAMOA MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO ASSASSINATION AND SENTENCED TO DEATH, TWO POLITICIANS STILL IN CUSTODY". Pacific Islands Report. 9 August 1999. Archived from the original on 10 September 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ Police v Vitale [1999] WSSC 14 (6 August 1999)
- ^ "SAMOAN CABINET MINISTER'S SON HAS DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED TO LIFE". Pacific Islands Report. 14 January 2000. Archived from the original on 1 February 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- ^ Lanuola Tusani Tupufia - Ah Tong (9 May 2019). "Man who killed Cabinet Minister Luagalau arrested, back in custody". Samoa Observer. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
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