An error in the Samoa prisons system saw a man spend five years longer in prison than he was sentenced to. Sio Agafili should have been released from prison in 2015. In November 2008, he was sentenced to seven years for burglary. A month later he got a five-year sentence for other crimes. In Samoa, a convict with two sentences must serve them together and not consecutively. A judge spotted the error when Mr Agafili was in court on another charge.
Mr Agafili described his pain at spending too long in jail. He said: "It's broken me into a million pieces....I lost count of the days....I just know I had to serve my time behind bars." His lawyer spoke about the injustice her client suffered due to his loss of liberty. She said: "He's been imprisoned unlawfully. I've heard of other cases of a similar nature. This is not the first of this type." She said she would try to get compensation for her client.