Husband Kills Cheating Wife’s Lover in Horrific Machete Attack

A Maui man has been sentenced to 20 years behind bars for killing his wife’s lover with a machete in a shocking crime that left seven children without their father.

Seniola Kafoa, 47, was convicted of manslaughter in May for the brutal death of 53-year-old Sione Paletua, a father of seven. The sentencing was handed down this week, with Judge Peter Cahill giving Kafoa the maximum penalty allowed under the law.

The deadly attack happened on July 20, 2024. Police say they arrived at the scene to find Paletua gravely wounded on the ground with a massive arm injury. Despite lifesaving efforts and a rushed trip to the hospital, doctors pronounced him dead shortly after arrival. A witness reported seeing Kafoa standing over Paletua before fleeing in a Honda, which was later found abandoned.

Prosecutors originally sought a second-degree murder conviction, but jurors found Kafoa guilty of manslaughter instead—a verdict that devastated Paletua’s grieving family. “You don’t get a pass to kill someone because your wife was cheating,” prosecutor Frank Loyd told the court.

Paletua’s oldest daughter spoke through tears, saying her father’s violent death came after the family had already endured heartbreak. They lost their mother to cancer in 2011. “Now we are without both parents,” she said. “One of the main things we will miss about our dad is just having that sense of security. We had already lost our mom, and just knowing that in this crazy world, we still had our dad at least.”

Kafoa apologized to the family through a Tongan interpreter, but the victim’s loved ones say no words can heal the pain of their loss.

“It is a horrific death under circumstances that sadly occurred, but the bottom line is, it did happen, and we can’t ignore it,” Judge Cahill said as he handed down the sentence.