A 19-year-old accused claimed in court that he was allegedly threatened to drive a group of men who allegedly abducted and assaulted two other men in Raiwai over the weekend.

Ledua Vakalomaloma made this claim while appearing before Magistrate Indula Ratnayake at the Magistrates Court in Suva yesterday.

He is charged with two counts of abduction and four counts of an act with intent to cause grievous harm.

He claimed he did not abduct neither did he assault any of the two men, who were the complainants in the case.

Vakalomaloma said all the crimes he had been charged with were all allegations. He maintained he did not commit any of the crimes.

He asked the court for his case to be first heard at the Magistrate before it was transferred to the High Court.

The court heard that one of the complainants was admitted at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital because he suffered injuries from the alleged incident.

Bail was objected by the Police Prosecutor on the grounds of protection of the community, seriousness of the offence and if Vakalomaloma was to be granted bail, he was very likely to interfere with the witnesses who live in the same street where the accused was from.

The matter will be called for bail hearing on October 18. Vakalomaloma was further remanded in custody.

Story by: Nacanieli Tuilevuka

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