Killer’s conviction appeal bid refused

Aformer carpenter who killed a woman in 2016 in Ba by striking her with a pinchbar multiple times had his enlargement of time to appeal against his conviction refused by the Fiji High Court of Appeal.

Venkat Raju was tried in absentia at the High Court in Lautoka for the murder of Roshni Lata Sharma. In 2019, after the summing-up, the three assessors in unanimity opined that Raju was not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter.

The learned High Court judge had disagreed with the assessors’ unanimous opinion and convicted Raju for murder. He was then sentenced on October 21, 2019, to mandatory life imprisonment with a minimum serving period of 18 years.

In his appeal, Raju criticised the trial judge stating that he had not given cogent reasons when disagreeing with the assessors during the judgement of the High Court and raised arguments on the grounds of trial in absentia.

Appeals Judge, Acting Resident Justice Chandana Prematilaka said when the trial judge disagreed with the majority of assessors, he should embark on an independent assessment and evaluation of the evidence and must give ‘cogent reasons’ founded on the weight of the evidence reflecting the judge’s views as to the credibility of witnesses for differing from the opinion of the assessors.

The court ruling stated that Raju was granted bail on January 5, 2017, and made a number of appearances in court thereafter. However, he had then absconded and decided not to appear in court. Raju had informed his counsel of his inability to attend the trial due to his illness.

“Thus, it is clear that he had waived his right to be present during the trial, and as a result, he had been tried in absentia,” Acting Resident Justice Prematilaka said.