According to local reports, a man in Hawaii was given a prison sentence for killing his wife’s lover with a machete.
According to local CBS affiliate KGMB, Seniola Kafoa, 47, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of Sione Paletua, 53, a father of seven. In May, Kafoa was found guilty of manslaughter by a jury.
“Your Honor, the only suitable punishment in this instance is to put him in prison. Prosecutor Frank Loyd stated, “It will send a message to the defendant and the people of Maui that you don’t get a pass to kill someone because your wife was cheating.”
The incident took place on Maui on July 20, 2024. According to police, when they arrived on the scene, a man greeted them and guided them to Paletua, who was unconscious on the ground with a serious injury to his arm.
Paramedics hurried him to a hospital after officers applied a tourniquet to his arm. When he arrived, doctors declared Paletua dead.
Before leaving in a Honda, a witness reported to police that he saw Kafoa standing over his body. After discovering the Honda abandoned, police detained Kafoa on suspicion of second-degree murder.
To the dismay of the victim’s family, jurors decided to convict Paletua of lesser manslaughter rather than the murder charge that the prosecution had tried him on.
“He will have to answer to his maker, the man above, one day, and explain why he did what he did,” stated Paletua’s eldest daughter.
In 2011, she and her siblings lost their mother to cancer. Both of their parents are no longer with them.
“Having that sense of security is one of the main things we will miss about our dad. We had already lost our mother, so it was comforting to know that we had our father left in this crazy world,” she said.
Through a Tongan interpreter, Kafoa expressed regret to Paleuta’s family.
Peter Cahill, a circuit judge, imposed the maximum legal prison term.
“It is a horrific death under circumstances that sadly occurred, but the bottom line is, it did happen, and we can’t ignore it,” he stated.
