Havea Hikuleo oPulotu, Lord Lasike, ( — 28 May 2025) was a former Speaker of the Tongan Legislative Assembly.

Political career

Lasike was first elected to the Tongan Legislative Assembly, as a representative of the nobility, in a by-election in 2005, following Lord Nuku's appointment to Cabinet. He was re-elected in the

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and again in

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. In March 2006, he was charged with

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

and indecent assault, after an incident involving an employee of a hotel he part-owns, but was acquitted. On 21 December 2010, Lasike was elected Speaker of the House.

Conviction and removal

On 19 April 2011 Lasike was charged with unlawful possession of ammunition following a search of his hotel room in Nuku'alofa. Other firearms charges were dismissed. On 14 October he failed to appear in court, and a warrant was issued for his arrest, but later cancelled after he appealed. In December, Chief Justice

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issued a new warrant for his arrest, finding that he had breached the conditions of his

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...

. He had been granted permission to travel to

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as part of a parliamentary delegation, but had instead flown to the

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, where he had reportedly got married. Prime Minister Lord Tuivakano called upon Lord Lasike to resign as Speaker. In mid-January, Lasike returned to Tonga, and was immediately arrested and taken to court, where his passport was taken from him. He was also criticised for having "abandoned" the delegation he was supposed to have led in Israel, thus jeopardising a mission said to be important for Tonga's diplomatic and economic relations with the country. Having pleaded not guilty to the count of illegal possession of two .22 ammunitions, he was tried in early July. His

counsel A counsel or a counsellor at law is a person who gives advice and deals with various issues, particularly in legal matters. It is a title often used interchangeably with the title of ''lawyer''. The word ''counsel'' can also mean advice given ...

was

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. On 9 July 2012, Lasike was convicted of illegally possessing ammunition and fined US$280. As a result, he automatically forfeited his seat in Parliament. Lord Nuku was elected his seat in a by-election. In October, Lasike was acquitted on appeal; the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

ruled that the Crown prosecution had not proved that Lasike had been aware that the incriminating ammunition was in his possession. Lasike immediately announced that he would challenge his dismissal from Parliament."Lasike challenges removal as Tonga Speaker"
Radio New Zealand International, 12 October 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Opulotu, Havea Hikuleo 2025 deaths Members of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Tonga Tongan nobles People acquitted of rape