MP takes witness stand
ASSISTANT Minister for Foreign Affairs Lenora Qereqeretabua took to the witness stand at the Suva Magistrate’s Court yesterday in the trial against former high school teacher Kishore Kumar who claimed on social media that he had explicit videos of the parliamentarian.
The court heard Ms Qereqeretabua’s account of the online abuse she was subjected to in 2020 when Mr Kumar made damning allegations against her.
Ms Qereqeretabua said that around July after the announcement of the 2020-2021 National Budget, she was made aware of a video being circulated and uploaded by the accused claiming that he had a pornographic video of her.
She said Mr Kumar had claimed the former attorney general, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, had been late to present the national budget in Parliament that evening because he had been watching the explicit videos.
The prosecution presented six videos showing Mr Kumar making these claims against the MP.
Ms Qereqeretabua, a National Federation Party MP, said that after re-watching the videos posted by Mr Kumar she was absolutely infuriated because she had never met him before.
She said the only thing that came to her mind when people started messaging her and informing her about the video was the thought of her daughter, whose husband had a role in the church, her role in church and her elderly parents.
After seeing hundreds of abusive comments on the videos, she realised that it was a politically motivated move to attack her reputation, she said.
She told the court the videos were widely shared on social media so appearing in Parliament brought embarrassment and anger.
The MP said she made the decision to stand up for herself and make a formal complaint to the police.
Ms Qereqeretabua said that on October 31, 2020, Mr Kumar appeared on the front page of a newspaper seeking forgiveness after being suspended as a computer teacher at Ratu Sukuna Memorial School. She said he even approached television news stations to air his apology.
She later filed a complaint to the Online Safety Commission which did not receive any evidence from Mr Kumar to support his claims.
The trial continues today.