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Taulanga v Kama [2006] TongaLawRp 4; [2006] Tonga LR 53 (5 January 2006)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TONGA

Taulanga

v

Kama anors

Supreme Court, Nuku'alofa
Webster CJ
CV 690/2003

26 – 29 April 2005; 29 April 2005; 5 January 2006

Tort – false imprisonment – initial lawful arrest – dismissed

On 9 May 2002 Miss Haitelenisia Hoko of Pea made a complaint to the police about another lady Tapensia Pola who told her son allegedly defamatory comments conveyed to her by the 15 year old plaintiff and her younger sister. The first defendant was the police officer who had the task of investigating the case. He saw the plaintiff on three different occasions in relation to the investigation. The plaintiff brought a claim for false imprisonment arising out of her alleged arrest by the first defendant on the three different occasions she was taken to the police station. She claimed that all three arrests were made without telling her the reason for the arrest at the time of the arrest and she was not taken before a magistrate. She claimed damages of $8,500 for unlawful imprisonment; $2000 for aggravated damages; $500 for assault and unlawful break-in to her home; $1000 for reputation and $8,000 for exemplary damages. The defendants denied the claims and contended that what the first defendant had done was lawful; that the plaintiff had not been arrested on the first two occasions because the police officer was still in the process of investigating the case and on the third occasion she had been lawfully arrested and charged. The court reviewed the relevant law before turning to the evidence.

Held:

1. It was part of the obligations and duties of a police constable to take all steps which appeared to him necessary for keeping the peace, for preventing crime and for protecting property from criminal injury. There was no exhaustive definition of the powers and obligations of the police but they were at least those and they would further include a duty to detect crime and to bring an offender to justice. Although it was the general duty of the police to obtain all possible information regarding criminal offences which have been committed, they have in general no power to compel any person to disclose facts within his or her knowledge or to answer questions put to him or her.

2. When a police officer was trying to discover whether, or by whom, an offence had been committed, he was entitled to question any person, whether suspected or not, from whom he thought useful information may be obtained. That was so whether or not the person has been taken into custody. All citizens have a duty to help police officers to discover and catch criminals. But apart from arresting him, the police cannot compel any person against his will to come to or remain in a police station.