High Court acquits Fareed
HIGH Court judge Justice Salesi Temo acquitted former Fijian Holdings Ltd (FHL) CEO Mohammed Nouzab Fareed of a charge of indecent assault he was convicted of last year.
In December he was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment suspended for two years.
He filed 14 grounds of appeal, 13 against his conviction and one against his sentence.
Justice Temo said the allegation, which was reported seven months after the incident was to have occurred, was revenge against Mr Fareed.
The court heard the complainant met Mr Fareed when the Brazilian ambassador was visiting Suva in March 2019, and there were hugs all around.
The ambassador hugged Mr Fareed, the Brazilian consul, and the complaint, a protocol officer with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the consul and complainant hugged each other, on many occasions during the ambassador’s visit.
In May, when the alleged incident occurred she went to Mr Fareed’s office, where he greeted her with a hug as he said he had done multiple times before. They discussed her salary expectations at FHL, which was $18,000 to $20,000 annually as opposed to the $13,000 she was getting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Fareed said $13,000 was the salary scale all new recruits started on, and this would increase after their performance was evaluated.
The court also heard the complainant had applied to FHL previously and alleged Mr Fareed was trying to recruit her, but she was having “second thoughts”.
She said on the day in question he asked for a hug, and when she obliged he breathed down her neck, rubbed her back and kissed her neck. Justice Temo said the allegation did not meet the threshold of indecent assault, and it was the complainant’s word against the accused’s.
He said the trial Magistrates erred in fact and law when he considered the complainant a credible witness because the power imbalance, the accused being the CEO of a big company and the complainant a junior civil servant, would have lead the court to accept her version of events.
The name suppression order, that prevented the media reporting Mr Fareed’s name was also lifted with no objection from Mr Fareed or the State.
Justice Temo said a criminal trial was a public procedure and all decisions need to be shown to the public unless good reason showed otherwise.
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