A former chief executive officer at one of Fiji’s biggest companies has been handed a sentence of 14 months imprisonment suspended for two years.

This means that if the offender, who now stands convicted for one count of indecent assault, would commit any other offences within the two years, he would have to serve his sentence.

The offence took place at the offender’s office in Suva at around 8 pm on May 15, 2019.

The matter was called before Chief Magistrate Usaia Ratuvili for sentencing on Friday.

Chief Magistrate Ratuvili said the former CEO was a first offender, went through mental agony when the matter came to light and was under constant attack in the media.

He said that defence in their mitigation mentioned that the former CEO had lost his job at the prestigious company, was under stress, and was also on medication due to high blood pressure and other health-related concerns.

Defence counsel had sought to discharge the former CEO without a conviction, however, Chief Magistrate Ratuvili said that it was not appropriate to do so as there was a breach of trust and abuse of power in relation to the case.

The Chief Magistrate said while the level of offending was low, the aggravating factor was that there was a breach of trust and there was no remorse shown on the offender’s part at any given point during the case.

The maximum penalty for the charge of indecent assault is five years imprisonment with a sentencing tariff of 12 months to four years.

As for the second matter where the offender is charged with three counts of indecent assault, the matter will be called for mention on January 28, 2022.

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