Acting Chief Justice gives greenlight in Vuda drug re-trial
The Acting Chief Justice has ordered the re-trial to go ahead as scheduled in the case of Australian national Joseph Aborizk and Fijian taxi driver Josese Muriwaqa
Abourizk and Muriwaqa were convicted and jailed by the High Court in Lautoka on one count of unlawful possession of 49.9 kilograms of cocaine near Vuda Point on July 13, 2015.
The High Court had handed 14 years imprisonment with a nonparole period of 12 years.
They appealed against their conviction and sentence to the Fiji Court of Appeal while the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) appealed against their sentences.
The Court of Appeal increased their imprisonment terms to 25 years with a non-parole period of 20 years.
The Supreme Court of Fiji in April this year ordered the petitioners’ application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court was granted.
It also ordered that the petitioners’ appeals against their conviction were allowed and their convictions were quashed and the DPP notify the court of an order of a new trial if proposed to do so.
The DPP had made the application to apply for a re-trial which was granted by the Supreme Court.
Abourizk’s lawyers Mosese Naivalu,
Kings Counsel Murugan and Murriwaqa’s lawyer John Rabuku sought that there be a stay in proceedings of the re-trial at the High Court in Lautoka and that if the stay was granted they would apply for review.
They argued that the first panel of the Supreme Court which quashed the conviction did not say where the matter should go from there and that was an error.
However, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Lee Burney stated that the first panel did not fall into error and the first panel did not ask the parties what their positions were.
Acting Chief Justice Temo said he would give his written ruling at a later date.
The re-trial will start on May 30.