Josua Colanaudolu of Deuba, who is facing 24 counts consisting of 10 for abduction, one for indecently annoying a female, 12 for rape and one of murder yesterday pleaded not guilty of all charges at the High Court in Suva.

Colanaudolu faces a charge of murder in relation to the death of Deuba student Mere Ailevu.

All 24 counts were read to him in court yesterday before Justice Salesi Temo in the iTaukei language.

The State was represented by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Lee Burney while Colanaudolu was represented by Suva lawyer Barbara Malimali.

Ms Malimali applied in court for a medical review to be done on her client to support a voir dire application which she intended to bring to court.

Justice Temo then told Ms Malimali to make a written request for the court to consider.

Justice Temo also informed both parties that they have about a year to prepare for trial and that he did not wish to deal with pre-trial issues during trial.

To this, Mr Burney said that he was “ready” and that the accused was “a dangerous sexual predator”.

The charges:

The court heard that there were four victims in the matter, including deceased Mere Ailevu.

For the first victim, Colanaudolu faces eight counts of abduction which is alleged to have happened between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2001.

For the same victim, he is charged with eight counts of rape.

In the case of the second victim, Colanaudolu is charged with one count each of abduction, rape and indecently annoying females. These charges relate to incidents that are alleged to have taken place between June 1, 2002 and December 31, 2004.

In the matter of the third victim, Colanaudolu faces one count of rape, which is alleged to have taken place on November 16, 2012.

The fourth victim in the matter is Mere Ailevu.

In her matter, Colanaudolu faces two counts of rape, one each of abduction and murder. According to particulars read out in court, the incident is alleged to have happened between March 13 and 14, 2016.

The matter will be called on June 3, 2016 for mention.

Meanwhile, Colanaudolu has been further remanded in custody.

Edited by Manasa Kalouniviti

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