Assessors Say Corrections Case 2 Not Guilty

All three assessors in the trial of Meli Vatureba and Nasoni Raburau found them not guilty of raping a female Corrections officer after the summing up was delivered yesterday.

The two former remand centre officers will have their judgments delivered by Justice Vincent Perera today.

Vatureba, 25, is charged alongside Raburau, 25, for allegedly raping a female Corrections officer on September 25, 2015 at the Korovou Corrections compound. Vatureba is represented by Barbara Malimali and Raburau is represented by Namrata Mishra.

The state prosecutors are Juleen Fatiaki and Sujata Lodhia. Ms Malimali, while delivering her closing submissions, said that Vatureba was honest and had admitted to the sexual act, but had said that it was consensual.

“There is nothing unusual for a man and woman to have sex after having some alcohol. How much do you need to drink to get tipsy, or to get drunk or to get blacked out?” she said.

“There was no evidence produced to ensure that and there was no medical evidence induced to show anything. No evidence was led about the amount of alcohol consumption that leads to the point of black out.” Ms Malimali said that if Vatureba had bad intentions and if he had wanted to take advantage of the complainant, then he wouldn’t call another person to accompany them in the taxi. Ms Mishra said that Raburau had been living with a rape charge hanging over his head for the past two years.

“For the past week he has had to live with his act of kindness being twisted and belittled in court,” said Ms Mishra.

She said the complainant didn’t recall certain events when asked because she kept saying she blacked out. She questioned the court if the complainant’s evidence should be counted as credible.

Prosecutor Ms Lodhia, while delivering her closing submissions, told the court that the complainant could not recall if she was kissing, dancing or was she even the initiator in the club because she was only being honest.

“She was sure she did not consent to having sex with both the accused and that they should have stopped the very moment she tried to push them away,” Ms Lodhia said. “She remembers both accused having sex with her because it happened to her by force and despite the rumours and people making fun of her she told her senior what had happened to her.”