Murder accused Lolohea seeks time to pay lawyer
Lawyer Abhay Singh, who is representing murder accused Timoci Tupou Lolohea, requested the High Court in Suva yesterday to give him until Thursday for the accused to pay his legal fees.
Lolohea appeared before Justice Salesi Temo and requested for time to pay his lawyer. Accordingly Justice Temo stood down the matter for Lolohea to arrange for payment.
When the case was called again in court, Mr Singh said Lolohea had requested for the case to be adjourned to today or Thursday because he had brought the wrong ATM card from the remand centre.
Justice Temo reminded Mr Singh that the Lolohea's trial was six weeks away from April 30, 2018 to May 11, 2018.
He said for murder cases lawyers had to burn the midnight oil and prepare for the trial at night. He reminded Mr Singh that the court would not vacate the trial date. Legal Aid lawyer Lavinia David said she had visited the remand centre two weeks earlier and Lolohea had approached her and he was given a Legal Aid application form.
Justice Temo adjourned the case to March 15, 2018 to finalise payment for the defence lawyer.
Justice Temo also requested the Legal Aid lawyer to be on standby on Thursday to take up the case in the event the private lawyer payment was not arranged.
Lolohea was informed by the court that the Legal Aid lawyers were just as good as the private lawyers. The accused is currently held in custody.