Court Grants Bail For Five Students
Five students charged with one count each of aggravated burglary and theft were yesterday released on bail with strict conditions by the Labasa Magistrates Court.
Abu Yasin, Mohammed Hussain, Abdul Khan, Sahid Mohammed and Tazim Mohammed appeared before Magistrate Timoci Qalinauci.
The five boarders who are studying religious education at the Naseakula Mosque in Labasa were represented by Kohli and Singh Associates lawyer, Reema Raj.
Divisional Police Prosecutor Northern Inspector Subramani Naidu told the court that the students are between the ages of 18 to 21.
It is alleged they broke into the Macuata Muslim League headquarters office located adjacent to the mosque last weekend, and stole more than $4000 cash. Inspector Naidu told the court they did not recover all the cash because the first accused, Abu Yasin had allegedly deposited $2000 into his BSP account. He then said the account has since been frozen by Police. Inspector Naidu told Magistrate Qalinauci that the charges were an indictable offence, and the case had to be transferred to the High Court. Mrs Raj objected saying that there were provisions made in previous similar cases where this case could be dealt with in the magistrates court.
She said her clients were first offenders, had no passports, were willing to adhere to strict bail con- ditions, co-operated with Police and the money was recovered. She also suggested that the court can impose a curfew on the accused men.
Magistrate Qalinauci agreed with the prosecution that it was an indictable offence. He adjourned the case to be heard at the High Court in Labasa on September 3.
He then released them on bail with strict conditions, saying that since it was the school holidays, he wanted the students to spend time with their families.
He also imposed a curfew on the students between 6pm to 8am. They are to report at the Labasa Police Station one Saturday in a month between 8am to 6pm, not to interfere with state witnesses and attend all court dates.
Each accused provided two sureties with a bail bond of $500 each. Edited by Caroline Ratucadra