Pacific / French Polynesia

Flosse acquitted in Tahiti row with ex-wife

12:51 pm on 4 May 2019

French Polynesia's former president Gaston Flosse has won his appeal against his conviction in a property dispute with his former wife Tonita Mao.

Gaston Flosse Photo: AFP

In August, he was given a six-month suspended prison sentence by the criminal court which convicted him of home invasion after he had refused a family court order to vacate the couple's home at Erima.

The appeal court found that the penal code on squatting didn't apply because he had originally been invited to be in the house.

The court had originally ordered him to pay his ex-wife $US10,000 in damages and also banned him from entering the residence.

The defence argued that the property isn't hers but belongs to his son Reginald.