On Sunday 31 October 1976 at 6 o’clock in the morning the police knocked on the door while they were All still asleep. Tesimoni went to the door, and was asked for his passport. He told them it was in the bedroom, and went to get it. The three police officers showed no warrant but walked straight in behind Him; Tesimoni showed them his passport and a letter from the  Labour Department confirming that he was a Registered overstayer. The police then picked up his parents’ passport, saw that their permits had expired too and went to wake them up. 

Sione woke to find three policemen in his bedroom and told them to get u#out of the house but his wife held him back, not wanting to make trouble. The police told them to get dressed and one even stayed with them while they did so. The other two checked every room, asking everyone there for their passports, and arrested two of them. 

While Sione and Setatita were in the police cells their friends tried to get help. They finally contacted a lawyer at about 10pm on Sunday night. He telephoned immigration and was told that the police had the overstayers register. So he rang the police who said they had no list and anyway there was no need to check because the officer must have checked before arresting them. He persisted however and asked them to look up the register since he understood that Sione and Setaita has signed it. When he rang back ten minutes later the police said they could not find the list, but would not release the couple. 

On Monday morning Sione and Setaita were taken to court, where a duty solicitor tried to help them, but they could not understand what he was saying. Meanwhile the lawyer their friends had contacted found that the Immigration who was prosecuting had not been able to check the register either, and was therefore going to ask that Sione and Setaita be remanded for a week. The lawyer was not able to get to Court for the hearing but they were not aware that he was acting for them anyway. 

When the lawyer arrived in court he tried to have the bail reduced. He asked for a rehearing and just before 12 Sione and Setaita were recalled. Mr Gillard refused to dispense with the sureties but lowered the bail to $200. Friends tried to arrange the sureties but before they could do so Sione and Seataita were taken away to Mt. Eden prison- where they were again out in separate cells. An hour or so later they were back to Court again. This time the Immigration officer told the magistrate that there were no charges against them and so at about 3 in the afternoon they were finally released. 

Throughout the whole time from 6 on Sunday morning to 3 on Monday afternoon Sione and Satiata understood very little of what was going on and were continually worried about their child. No one spoke to them in their own language and they hardly had any time to talk to each other. They could not understand why no one seemed to know or care that they had signed the register. When they were finally released no explanation or apology was given, and they were left t find their own way home. The Minister of Immigration, Mr Gill, later apologised on television for the ‘mistake’. The family did not see this and at no time have they received any direct apology or explanation from Mr Gill, his department, or any of the other agencies involved…"