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
Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, the
Chief Justice, the Minister of Justice, and
New Zealand's High Commissioner to Samoa.
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
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging ...
on 6 August 1999 by Justice Andrew Wilson. His death sentence was commuted to
life imprisonment by the head of state.
Vitale was granted parole in 2010, but rearrested for breach of parole in 2019.
References
Samoan prisoners sentenced to death
Prisoners sentenced to death by Samoa
Samoan people convicted of murder
People convicted of murder by Samoa
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
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