Widow takes news to graveside

By ALISON HORWOOD

In Apia

For nine long months, the widow and 5-year-old daughter of slain political leader Luagalau Levaula Kamu have made an evening pilgrimage to visit his tomb at the bottom of their family garden.

Yesterday, Maiava Peteru and Naomi Kamu, who has Down's syndrome, had a special message for their beloved family member: "It is over."

"The trial has been a trial for all of us," Maiava said later. "I felt a sense of great relief, like a weight off my shoulders and I think most people feel it also. Now we must try and get on."

After 14 weeks, the historic political assassination trial in the Supreme Court of Samoa had ended with the presiding judge, Justice Andrew Wilson, making a final ruling to convict two former cabinet ministers of murder.

Yesterday afternoon, he upheld the decision of a panel of assessors by finding former Women's Affairs Minister Leafa Vitale and former Telecommunications Minister Toi Aukuso Cain guilty of plotting the assassination of Luagalau, the Public Works Minister.

Flanked by bodyguards who have guarded his temporary residence throughout the trial, Justice Wilson sentenced the men to death by hanging.

Although death is the mandatory sentence for murder, it has not been exercised since independence in 1962. It is expected the sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment.

After the judge gave his decision, the only visible response from the public gallery came from Toi's wife, Pauline Cain, and his children, who bowed their heads and prayed. Toi, who at 68 years of age has been suffering ill health, is not expected to leave prison if his sentence is commuted to life.

The trial - held under heavy police guard in a church hall in Apia - has revealed deep corruption in the former Government.

The court heard how Leafa made his fortune when Public Works Minister by skimming bribe money off companies wanting Government contracts. He has about $2 million in overseas accounts.

When the new Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, took power in late 1998, Toi was dumped from the cabinet and Leafa lost his lucrative portfolio, which went to high-performing Luagalau.

"That's why Luagalau was shot. He was the same, he wanted tips, tips, tips," Toi said in evidence. "That's where the money is."

He said a contract worth 10 million tala ($6.84 million) was worth a $300,000 "tip."

In spite, Leafa and Toi contracted a hit-man to kill Luagalau, but the deal fell through. They then turned to Leafa's son, 34-year-old Alatise.

He is serving a life sentence after confessing that he gunned down Luagalau using a semi-automatic rifle similar to an M16 at a political function in Apia last July 16.

Maiava, a top lawyer and one of two women politicians in Samoa, met Luagalau at the Auckland University law school in the 1970s.

At Luagalau's funeral, the dean of law at Auckland University, Bruce Harris, said in a eulogy: "He [Luagalau] could have chosen to stay in New Zealand, perhaps even becoming the first Samoan member of Parliament. We thought he made the right choice in returning to Samoa, to use his legal skills for the benefit of his people."

Although Maiava's three sons are now at school in Auckland, she has no plans to leave the country where her husband was slain. "The minute that he died, I vowed that whatever talents Leva gave to the country, I intend to carry on."