Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The driver of the speeding vehicle that ran off the road in front of StarKist Samoa on December 17, 2021, killing four cannery employees, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

On the morning of Thursday, June 8, 2023, before Acting Associate Justice Elvis Patea and associate judges Muasau Tofili and Paepae Faiai, the defendant, Chanel Lafua apologized to the families of the four men whose lives were abruptly ended in the tragic accident just after midnight on December 17.

Inside the courtroom were the wives and children of the deceased victims, Faasaulala Ahoni, Ierome Vili, Alatina Faleasi and Taumaoe Olive.

Mrs Vili said it’s been three years since the tragedy and this was the first time she’s heard from the defendant.

She said she wanted justice for the death of her husband and also speaks for the families of the other men killed because of Lafua’s recklessness. She asked that he be sentenced to life imprisonment.

In delivering the sentence, Acting Associate Justice Patea said Lafua’s actions were reckless and careless resulting in the four deaths.

But he said while the families of the four victims are seeking a sentence of life imprisonment, the defendant was not charged with murder, but rather ‘homicide by vehicle’.

Acting Associate Judge Patea then sentenced Lafua to five years for the death of each of the four men killed, to be served consecutively — one after the other — for a total of 20 years.