Abduction case to proceed to trial after no-case bid fails

A man charged with abducting a young person will proceed to trial after the court dismissed his no-case-to-answer application last week.

Jawan Prasad is alleged to have abducted the complainant on August 18, 2022.

The court heard that Prasad, who was known to the complainant as a neighbour of more than 10 years, allegedly followed her to school and posed as her father.

It is alleged he signed her out of school and took her away.

The trial began on October 20 last year, during which the prosecution called five witnesses who testified that they saw the accused and the complainant together.

The court heard the complainant testify that Prasad told her not to attend school and signed her out while pretending to be her father.

She told the court she was scared and played along, claiming she was sick and that the man was her father who needed to take her to hospital.

The court heard teachers mistook the accused for the complainant’s parent because the school did not have passport-sized photographs of her parents in her biodata records.

After leaving the school, the pair travelled by taxi to the Happy Motel.

A female receptionist testified that she saw them enter the motel at about 8.30am and noted the age difference between them, particularly as the complainant was still in her school uniform.

The defence filed a no-case-to-answer application on three grounds, including that the prosecution failed to properly identify Prasad as the accused and failed to prove he unlawfully took the complainant without her mother’s consent.

However, the court ruled there was admissible and relevant evidence establishing Prasad’s identity during the incident.

The magistrate rejected the defence argument that witnesses could not reliably identify the accused because they had only seen him once and a significant amount of time had passed.

The court found that all witnesses were able to identify the accused in the dock and that the complainant’s mother had not given consent for her daughter to be taken.

The defence will now prepare to proceed to trial.