An inmate who claimed in High Court that he was assaulted by officers at the Territorial Correctional Facility has been transported to Manu’a where he will serve his jail term in a Ta’u substation cell block.

Leuma Malala appeared last Friday before Chief Justice Michael Kruse for sentencing in connection with a case in which he was convicted for shooting his wife last year May. At sentencing, Malala alleged in court that he had been assaulted by police officers inside the TCF.

Kruse sentenced the defendant to 28 months imprisonment and ordered him to pay a $5,000 fine. He is also to attend and complete an anger management course and forbidden to have any firearms or live ammunition in his possession. 

Kruse then told acting police commissioner Save Liuato Tuitele, who was in the court room, to look for a place where the defendant could serve his time, and it must be a place where the defendant cannot connect with police officers, correction officers or inmates.

When asked for an update on Malala, Save told Samoa News yesterday that the Department of Public Safety has complied with the court’s order and the defendant was transported over the weekend to the Ta’u cell block.

While the inmate is in Manu’a, the department is conducting an investigation into the allegations made by the defendant in court, where he claimed that he had been assaulted by officers at TCF. Save noted that if the allegations are proven true, than DPS will take the necessary course of action.

However, if the allegations are found to be untrue after the investigation, then the court will be informed of the results of the probe, he said.

Malala’s attorney, assistant public defender Michael White told Samoa News that his client has stated that he was assaulted three times inside TCF not only by officers, but by other inmates and reported that his client had sustained injuries to his body.

The extent of the injuries were not immediately clear but DPS plans to cover this issue — if the defendant suffered injuries — during its investigation.

(Original Samoan story is published in the Lali section of today’s Samoa News edition.)