Brothers and cousin sentenced for roles in grandmother shooting
Meliame Fisi’ihoi was watching television late at night when she heard a noise outside.
The 57-year-old Auckland grandmother got up and pulled back the curtain to peer out into the darkness of her Māngere front lawn, before being shot at point-blank range by a man on the other side of the glass.
Brothers Falala and Viliami Iongi, together with their cousin Manu Iongi, had pulled up in the sleepy dead-end Calthorp Close in the early hours of January 15, 2020.
They were looking for Stephen Fisi’ihoi who would later confirm in court he had been selling meth out of his sleepout in the front yard of his mother and father’s home. But Stephen Fisi’ihoi wasn’t home. Instead of killing him, they shot mother, Meliame Fisi’ihoi.
Yesterday, Falala Iongi and Viliami Iongi were sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17 and 15 years respectively for murder.
Manu Iongi was sentenced to eight years and six months for manslaughter. He will have to serve at least half that before being eligible for parole.
Meliame Fisi’ihoi’s son told the High Court in Auckland that he struggled to find the words to capture the loss of his “angel mother”.
Manu Fisi’ihoi and his wife Hannah lived in Hamilton at the time of the shooting but he had to quit his job and move to Auckland to support the family.
“I had to not only identify my mother but I had to view the destruction left behind.
“I had to clean up my mother’s blood off the floor of our house.”
After arranging the funeral and the headstone for his mother, there were 15 months’ of sleepless nights before police arrested the three men responsible.
The family eventually sold their Calthorp Close home; the memories of Meliame Fisi’ihoi’s death were too much.
“You’ve taken away the soul, the heartbeat his of my family, my queen, the person I’d call to vent, to crack jokes with, to get advice from, the person who knew how to make days brighter,” Manu Fisi’ihoi said.
Hannah Fisi’ihoi spoke of her motherin-law sneaking into her and her husband’s bedroom in the morning and leaving McDonald’s by the bed. “There was none for her son, it was just for me.”
Meliame Fisi’ihoi’s care of others extended to sending text messages on cold winter nights, reminding her daughter-in-law to wear warm socks.
“She was the light of the Fisi’ihoi family.” Hannah Fisi’ihoi said her life changed on January 15, 2020.
“My husband left in the car and he never came home, after being told Meliame had been killed.”
She said she had watched her husband suffer. He had tried to remain strong for his family but broken down in private.
For 15 months, the family lived in fear that the gunmen would return. She said yesterday that for the first time in over four years, the family were free of the men responsible for killing her mother-in-law.
At court yesterday, Crown prosecutor Natalie Walker said Falala Iongi was the ringleader. He was the eldest brother and had the “beef” with Stephen Fisi’ihoi.
She said Viliami Iongi was the “enforcer” – he shot George Vunua in December and shot at Stephen. He also had the gun next to him on the backseat after Meliame Fisi’ihoi was murdered.