Magistrate Acquits Former police Sergeant of Abduction Charge
Aformer Police Sergeant, Mahendra Kumar, who was charged with abduction of a person under 18 years of age with intent to have carnal knowledge, was acquitted by the Magistrates Court in Labasa yesterday.
Kumar, aged 59 and a resident of Nabekavu, Labasa, was represented by Sen Lawyers solicitors Amrit Sen and Reshmi Sangeeta, and appeared before Magistrate Bimsara Jagodage.
The alleged offence was said to have taken place between January 1 and June 30, 2017 in Labasa, while Kumar was working at the Labasa Police Station as transport pool supervisor.
He pleaded not guilty to the offence.
After 23 years of service, Kumar was terminated in 2018. Magistrate Jagodage ruled that there was no case to answer, stating that it appeared to the court that a case had not been made out against the accused to sufficiently require him to make a defence.
The prosecution only called one witness, which was the victim herself.
However, she refused to give evidence and testified that she did not wish to proceed with the matter against the accused.
Magistrate Jagodage stated that there was no evidence that the accused, during the particular period in question, had taken the victim out of the possession and against the will of her mother with the intention to have carnal knowledge of the victim.
Therefore, he held that the prosecution had not adduced any evidence in relation to the charge and had manifestly failed to touch on
elements of the charged offence against the accused.
He added that the evidence available before the court was not sufficient to make out a case against the accused.