24 Sep 2008

Court of appeal in Samoa reverses acquittal of man on drugs charges

3:34 pm on 24 September 2008

Samoa's Court of Appeal has convicted a man the Supreme Court last year had acquitted on a charge of possessing a glass pipe for drug use.

The defendant, Mailo Benjamin David Vai, a well-known local musician, has been directed to appear for sentence in the Supreme Court.

In October last year the court had ruled the defendant did have possession

of a pipe for the smoking of methamphetamine.

However the presiding judge in his decision said the Samoan Narcotics Act does not expressly list use of a narcotic as an offence.

The Court of Appeal has now ruled that all elements of the offence were

established and Vai is guilty of an offence under the Act.