Cases Withdrawn Due to Police Laxity, Assault
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has recorded one case that was withdrawn due to a lack of evidence, another was withdrawn because of Police laxity in the interviewing process and a third was was withdrawn due to evidence of Police assaults.
The revelation has been made after ODPP released the number of formal indictments (Information) filed in the High Courts of Fiji by the Director of Public Prosecutions throughout the month of October. The three cases were withdrawn after discontinuances (Nolle Prosequi) were filed.
The data is confined to incidents of serious crimes other than sexual violence offences which are recorded and published separately.
The following is the indepth report that was provided:
Types of offences
This data also includes offences committed by police officers. There were 74 people charged with a total of 83 counts of separate incidents in October.
The offences were murder (2), attempted murder (1), manslaughter (4), aggravated robbery (21), robbery (1), attempted robbery (1), aggravated burglary (12), burglary (1), theft (11), assault causing actual bodily harm (1), assault occasioning actual bodily harm (2), serious assault (2), acts intended to cause grievous harm (4), aggravated sexual servitude (1), selling minors for immoral purposes (1), domestic trafficking in children (3), dangerous driving causing grievous harm (2), careless driving (1), driving with excess blood alcohol (1), driving whilst disqualified (1), incapable of driving whilst drunk (1), making threats at an airport (1), drunk and disorderly (1), criminal intimidation (3), attempt to commit arson (1), concealing the birth of a child (1) and receiving stolen property (2). Of the 74 accused persons, 6 were juveniles and two were police officers.
The juveniles were charged with robbery, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and theft offences. One Police officer was charged with careless driving while another Police officer was charged with drunk and disorderly and serious assault on a fellow Police officer. There were 64 victims of the 84 counts of separate incidents. There were 8 incidents where the accused and the victims were related to one another and 6 incidents where foreign nationals were robbed.
A 29-year-old man was charged with the murder of his 25-year-old wife.
The accused allegedly strangled his wife, put her in a well and burnt her. In another incident, a 20-yearold man was charged with the murder of a 23-year-old man. The accused allegedly struck the victim with a piece of timber outside a nightclub.
Manslaughter
There were two separate incidents where the accused persons were each charged with two counts of manslaughter.
In one incident, a 30-year-old man was charged for allegedly driving a motor vehicle in a manner which caused the death of two pedestrians who were walking along the road. The accused was also charged with driving with excess alcohol in his blood and driving whilst disqualified.
In another incident, a 35-year-old man was charged for allegedly driving whilst drunk which caused the death of two people and caused in- juries to two others who were passengers in his car.
He was also charged with danger- ous driving causing grievous harm and being incapable of driving whilst drunk.
Attempted murder
There was one incident where a 36-year-old man was charged with the attempted murder of his former girlfriend.
The accused was also charged for criminally intimidating the victim’s father and four police officers.
Sexual servitude and threats
A 37-year-old man was charged with one count of aggravated sexual servitude, one count of selling minors for immoral purposes and 3 counts of domestic trafficking of a 17-year-old girl. There was one incident where a 49-year-old man was charged with making threats at an airport.
He allegedly said a perfume bottle in his possession was a bomb.
Husbands charged
There were 2 incidents where husbands were charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm. There were 3 separate incidents where 2 husbands and a brother-inlaw were charged with acts intended to cause grievous harm to their wives and brother-law.
There was one incident where a 43-year-old man was charged with assault causing actual bodily harm. He allegedly assaulted two of his co-workers at a construction site. Cash and assorted items which ranged from $60 to $101,243.96 were stolen during the alleged aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary offences which consisted of home invasions, shop breakins, restaurant break-ins, medical clinic break-ins and daylight street robberies. Assorted items stolen during the break-ins were wallets, mobile phones, vehicles and food items.
Separate incidents
Two Chinese, two American and two Filipino men were allegedly robbed of cash and assorted items. A 25-year-old man and a 23-year-old man were charged with aggravated robbery, burglary and theft. They allegedly broke into two separate restaurants and stole goods worth $1,075 and $1200. Three men were charged for allegedly breaking into a Filipino doctor’s medical clinic and stealing $740 worth of property. A 23 year-old man was charged for allegedly robbing a US citizen of $6487.18. A 20-year-old man was also charged with aggravated burglary and theft at another US citizen’s place.
However, his matter was withdrawn due to lack of evidence while two others in this case were convicted of the same. A 36-yearold man was charged with the aggravated robbery of a mobile phone from a 34- year-old Filipino man. A 24-year-old woman was charged with concealing the birth of a child after the infant died during birth.
Source: Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions
There were 8 incidents where the accused and the victims were related to one another and 6 incidents where foreign nationals were robbed. A 29-year-old man was charged with the murder of his 25-year-old wife.