As a plea deal was to be presented yesterday, the case of a man who fled Tonga before he was to appear in the Tongan court for the murder of his wife has been continued to next Wednesday.
US citizen Dean Fletcher was to enter a plea agreement in which the government would dismiss the charge of illegal entry into the territory against him and he would return to Tonga to stand trial.
However the government requested a continuance in the case to today to allow time for negotiations with officials from Tonga concerning Fletcher’s case.
District Court Judge Fiti Sunia allowed the continuance, not for one day but for one week.
He told the government that the courts calendar is not at the whim of the Tongan parties.
He then continued the case till next Wednesday.
The Tongan Government has been negotiating with the State Department for the extradition of Fletcher to Tonga to stand trial for the murder of his wife.
He managed to escape form the prison in Vava’u and sailed here on his yacht Sea Oak with more than $4,000 in his possession.
He arrived here October 3rd and was recognized by a woman who suspected he was the one that was reported on the news to have escaped from Tonga.
The woman contacted police.
Fletcher had tried to fuel up his yacht however fueling operations were suspended because a fuel tanker was in port.
He then sailed out of the harbor and was close to Aunuu island when authorities had his yacht escorted back to port.
That same day he was arrested on a charge of entering and leaving without going through proper clearance and not having required documentation showing that his vessel had been cleared from his last port of call.
Fletcher is held without bail at the Territorial Correctional Facility.
