By ALISON HORWOOD
A panel of assessors will resume deliberations this morning to decide the fate of two men accused of plotting to murder Samoan Public Works Minister Luagalau Levaula Kamu.
Women's Affairs Minister Leafa Vitale, aged 54, and former Communications Minister Toi Aukuso Cain, 68, have been on trial for the murder of Auckland University-educated Luagalau at a political function last July 16.
The case has electrified Samoa and turned an unwelcome international spotlight on the nation.
Leafa's son, Alatise Vitale, 34, is serving a life sentence after confessing he was the gunman who killed Luagalau at point-blank range with a semi-automatic similar to an M16.
It is alleged the pair plotted the murder because they were losing political clout, and were jealous of the portfolio Luagalau held.
The 12-week trial, under heavy police guard in the Supreme Court of Samoa, has been before an Australian Supreme Court judge, Justice Andrew Wilson, and a panel of five assessors instead of a jury.
The case is very close to a conclusion, with the trial ending at 3.30 pm yesterday when the five assessors began deliberations.
They retired at 5.30 pm without reaching a decision but will resume deliberations again at 8 am today.
The panel was chosen at random from a pool of fewer than 300 potential assessors, who were carefully selected for their analytical and decision- making skills. They are mostly matai or chiefs, and almost entirely men.
Justice Wilson told the assessors their finding had to be endorsed by at least four of the panel.
Samoa has a mandatory death sentence for murder, but it has not been enforced since it gained independence in 1962.
Alatise's murder sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
During his four-day summing up, Justice Wilson told the court: "The trial will find itself in the history books of this country," and used the famous words of John F. Kennedy: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."
He told the assessors the trial was unique for Samoa and urged them to take their time in reaching a decision.
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