No autopsy reports received
THE Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has not received the post-mortem examination reports of the five people whose bodies were found in the Nausori Highlands in August this year.
This was revealed in the High Court in Lautoka yesterday by DPP lawyer Semi Babitu during the case of Mohammed Raheesh Isoof — the man facing murder charges in relation to the five deaths.
The case was called before judge Justice Rangajeeva Wimalasena.
Mr Babitu said the pathologist would provide the reports by next Friday and this would allow them to go through more evidence before full information was disclosed to defence counsel Iqbal Khan.
He added pesticide residue was found on the victims’ bodies and post-mortem reports would be able to provide more evidence of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the three adults and two children.
Mr Khan, however, argued that the post-mortem examinations were done “ages ago” and the reports should have been available already.
He also told the court “it was a joke” that the reports were not ready yet as his client was charged with murder from the Nadi Magistrates Court.
Mr Babitu said the case was a serious one so they would await the full postmortem examination reports from the pathologist before proceeding with serving full disclosures to the defence.
Justice Wimalasena said this was a very serious matter and the State has been given 14 days despite Mr Khan’s request to give the them a short time with strict instructions.
Mr Isoof was further remanded in custody.
His bail hearing is scheduled for October 18 while the substantive matter would be called on October 25.
It was alleged that on August 25 and 26, Mr Isoof murdered Nirmal Kumar, 63, his wife Usha Devi, 54, their daughter Nileshni Kajal, 34 and her two daughters Sanah, 11, and Samara, 8.