NINE JUVENILES, TWO POLICE OFFICERS CHARGED WITH SERIOUS OFFENCES

THERE WERE 43 PEOPLE CHARGED WITH A TOTAL OF 52 COUNTS OF SEPARATE INCIDENTS IN JANUARY Of these, there were 33 victims. Of the 33, there were six incidents where the accused and victims were related.

The following data is authorised for release by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) and relates to the number of formal indictments (information) filed in the High Courts of Fiji by the Director of Public Prosecutions throughout the month.

This data is confined to incidents of serious crimes other than sexual violence offences which are recorded and published separately.

This data also includes offences committed by Police officers.

There were 43 people charged with a total of 52 counts of separate incidents in January. The offences were attempted murder (1) aggravated robbery (13), aggravated burglary (9), attempted aggravated burglary (1), burglary (1) theft (11), act with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (5), assault causing actual bodily harm (2), assault (1), unlawful cultivation (2), possession of illicit drug s (1), importation of illicit drug s (1), careless driving (1), money laundering (1), disobeying lawful order (1) and resisting arrest (1).

Of the 43 accused persons, nine were juveniles and two were Police officers. The juveniles were charged with aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and theft offences.

A 22-year-old Police officer was charged with the assault of an 18-yearold while a 46-year-old Police officer was charged with careless driving. There were 33 victims of the 52 counts of separate incidents. Of the 33, there were six incidents where the accused and victims were related to one another.

One of the incidents involved a 44-year-old man who allegedly attempted to murder his 46-year-old wife with a cane knife.

There were four separate incidents where the accused were charged with acts with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to their family members.

In one incident, a 30-year-old man allegedly struck his 27-year-old de facto partner with a knife during an argument.

In another incident, a 32-year-old woman was charged for allegedly assaulting her 39-year-old sister with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm. There was another incident where a 32-year-old man was charged for allegedly assaulting his 44-year-old brother-in-law with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

A 40-year-old man was charged with act with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm and assault causing actual bodily harm to his 11-year-old daughter.

The man allegedly put his daughter’s hand on heated charcoal that burnt her hand and also kicked her. Cash and assorted items ranging from $100 to $24,000 were stolen during the alleged aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary offences which consisted of home invasions, shop and restaurant break-ins, and daylight street robberies. There were two incidents of unlawful cultivation of illicit drugs. A 32-year-old man was charged for allegedly cultivating 16 kilograms of cannabis sativa while a 30-year-old man was charged for allegedly cultivating 128 kilograms of cannabis sativa and resisting arrest. A 19-year-old man was charged for allegedly possessing 905 grams of cannabis sativa.

He was also charged for allegedly laundering $3900 and a 27-year-old man was charged with importation of 55.9 grams of methamphetamine.

Refer to the table entitled ODPP Serious Crime (Non-Sexual Violence Offences) Statistics January 2019 for a break-down of these statistics.