Woman Pleads Guilty to Abortion
Awoman charged with abortion has pleaded guilty to the offence. The accused Vineeta Devi, 58, appeared in the High Court in Suva yesterday before Justice Riyaz Hamza.
She is charged alongside Ashish Prasad, 46, who is charged with procurement of abortion.
Devi is alleged to have performed the act on a 22-year-old victim who was the second accused de facto’s partner.
Prasad is alleged to have paid Devi $200 to perform the abortion on the complainant. The alleged incident happened in July of 2016 in Waila, Nausori.
The case was called yesterday for summary of facts to be read out in court in regard to the first accused. However, state lawyer Taitusi Tuenuku said there were some disputes from the defence regarding the summary of facts.
Mr Tuenuku requested for time to make minor changes to the facts. Legal Aid Commission lawyer for the second accused Namrata Mishra said her client was travelling from Taveuni and requested if a longer adjournment date could be given.
Ms Mishra said Prasad maintains a not guilty plea and they were at the stage of finalising proposed agreed facts for his case.
The case has been adjourned to June 19, 2018 for the first accused to appear in court for her summary of facts.
Mr Tuenuku was also advised to file sentence submissions on the next date and Devi’s lawyer Mohammed Yunus stated he would file his client’s mitigation accordingly. Justice Hamza said that would be convenient and would give him one week to prepare Devi’s sentence. He also advised both counsels to file the tariff and case laws for abortion.
Meanwhile Prasad’s case was adjourned to July 9, 2018 for mention. Both accused persons are on bail.