The father of the accused civilian Semisi Kalistiane Manu who is facing a jury trial for manslaughter in the death of a vacationing New Zealand police officer while in custody in Tonga, said he witnessed the police beating up the deceased at the Nuku’alofa police station.

Semisi Manu was being held in a cell at Nuku’alofa Police station the night Kali Fungavaka died, and the Crown alleges Manu punched Fungavaka in the face during an argument, causing him to fall and hit his head on the cement floor of the cell.

Crown prosecutor ‘Aminiasi Kefu says this fall caused Fungavaka’s brain to jolt violently in his skull causing serious internal injuries.

However, it is an alleged series of assaults by five police officers on Fungavaka before he was placed in the cell which are believed to have caused the major injuries leading to his death.

Kefu says a New Zealand pathologist who carried out a post-mortem examination on Fungavaka’s brain found three significant injuries, one attributed to Manu’s attack and the other two believed to have been caused by the police officers.

Five Tongan policemen, Inspector Kelepi Hala’ufia and Constables Salesi Maile, Tevita Vakalahi, Manu Tu’ivai and Fatai Faletau, were tried over their part in the attacks last week.

The verdict in their case has been reserved until the end of Manu’s trial in around three weeks.

Semisi Manu’s father, Andre Manu, a crown witness, said he was visiting the station on the night of August 17, 2012 because his son had been arrested and was in custody.

He said he was standing at the counter area inside the station when the New Zealander was brought in by two of the accused police officers, Salesi Maile and Fatai Faletau.

He said the two officers had difficulty taking Fungavaka inside the watch house as he managed to get out from their grip.

He said at this time the Police Inspector Kelepi Hala’ufia came into the station with another arrested person, accompanied by two other officers and went in the watch house.

The witness alleged that Hala’ufia came out and stood beside him at the counter and insisted that the two officers who held Fungavaka hurry up and take him inside to the watch house, but they had difficulty.

The witness said Hala’ufia got angry so he went up and stood behind Fungakava and hit him on the top of his head with a torch.

He said the two accused officers were standing holding back each of Kali’s arms. His head was slightly bending forward when Hala’ufia struck him with the torch.

“I then saw Hala’ufia poke Kali with the torch in an uppercut motion to his stomach or chest area.

“Kali was weak and not moving. If the police officers were not holding his arms he would have dropped to the floor. When Kali was struck on the head Sgt Lose Blake, who was there, ran outside,” he said.

The witness also said while the beating took place he was standing with Ashley Fua, the officer-in-charge of the station that night.

“I suggested to him to stop the beating because the person will die. The beating happened right in front of me,” he said.

“When Kali was dragged into the watch house the police officers continued beating him inside, because I could see through the half partition wall their heads bending down and getting up. They continued beating him up for about 15-20 minutes,” he said.

During cross-examination by the defence counsel Sione ‘Etika, a black torch was produced and shown to the witness and jury.

The witness demonstrated the impact of the torch being struck on Kali’s head by using a plastic water bottle to hit his hand. “It was a hard force,” he said.

He said he remained at the counter area until 3.00am on August 18, 2012 when his son was released from prison before they went home.

The jury trial continues at the Supreme Court before Justice Charles Cato.