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 for the month of May.

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 90 people charged with a total of 112 counts of separate incidents in May.

The offences were murder (2), manslaughter (1), aggravat­ed burglary (16), aggravated robbery (20), theft (17), forgery (3), uttering forged documents (3), obtaining money (4), fal­sification of accounts (14), larceny(10), money laundering (1), attempt to obtain property by deception (1), unlawful wounding (1), act with intent to cause grievous harm (4), assault causing actual bodily harm (1), serious assault (1), dangerous driving causing grievous harm (1), dangerous driving (2), careless driving (1), arson (1), receiving stolen property (1) and false statement at airport (7).

Police officers

Of the 90 people charged, four were Police officers. One Police officer was charged with serious assault, another Police officer was charged with careless driving while two others were charged with dangerous driving.

There were 14 juveniles charged with aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and theft offences.

There were seven foreign nationals from Cyprus, the Philippines, the United States, Australia, Thailand and Vanuatu charged with various offences including money laundering and false statements at the airport.

There were 58 victims of the 112 counts of separate in­cidents. Of the 58 victims, there were six incidents where the accused and victims were related to one another and seven incidents where the victims were foreign nationals from New Zealand, China, Japan and Bangladesh.

The foreign nationals and their homes were allegedly robbed and cash and assorted items were stolen. There were two incidents of murder.

In one case, a 22-year-old man was charged for the alleged murder of his 22-year-old divorced wife and in another case a 34-year-old man was charged for forcing his 21-year-old de facto partner to drink weedkiller which caused her death.

There were two incidents of act with intent to cause grievous harm where the husbands have allegedly as­saulted their wives with hammers and hot irons causing grievous harm.

Man charged for unlawful wounding daughter

A 39-year-old man was charged with unlawful wounding of his 19-year-old daughter while a 37-year-old man was charged with arson for allegedly setting his sister-in-law’s house on fire.

There was one incident of manslaughter where a 23-year-old man fell asleep at the wheel of his car which caused the death of a Bangladeshi tourist.

The accused is also charged with one count of danger­ous driving causing grievous harm. Cash amounts ranged from $30 to $62, 944 while assorted items from $159 worth of mobile phones to household goods, electronic and me­chanical items amounting to over $13, 900 were stolen during the alleged aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary offences which consisted of home invasions, of­fice and shop break-ins, western union break-ins, vehicle break-ins, and daylight street robberies.

There were seven individuals who were charged sepa­rately with one count each of giving false statements at the airport.

These individuals include two locals and five foreign na­tionals informing security officials at Nadi International Airport that their luggage contained bombs.

There was one incident where a man was charged with multiple counts of forgery, uttering forged documents, ob­taining money, falsification of accounts and larceny.

This case was withdrawn after a discontinuance (Nolle Prosequi) was filed due to loss of police exhibits.

Six other cases were withdrawn after discontinuances (Nolle Prosequi) were filed. One case of a police officer charged with dangerous driving was withdrawn after his death while five cases were withdrawn due to insufficient evidence.

Refer to the table entitled ODPP Serious Crime (Non- Sexual Violence Offences) Statistics May 2018 for a break-down of these statistics.

Table:

* Please note that a number of accused persons may also have been charged with other serious offences. Similarly, a number of victims for one crime have also been victims of other serious crimes. The same applies to the number of Nolle Prosequi filed.

* Please also note that sexual violence offences are re­corded and published separately.

Edited by Ranoba Baoa