Accused struck man on the head with wine bottle, court hears

An accused in a murder trial, Shumedha Chandra, allegedly struck Jawahir Lal on his head with a wine bottle during a scuffle at Korotari, Labasa.

This was revealed by prosecution witnes, Arishma Lal, at the High Court in Labasa yesterday.

The alleged incident occurred on June 5, 2022, along the Nasikasika cane access road in Korotari.

Labasa lawyer Amrit Sen is accused of accidentally reversing his vehicle and running over his own passenger, John Rusiate, resulting in his death.

Sen and Chandra appeared before Justice Pita Bulamainaivalu, where Ms Lal described the scene “disturbing” and “frightening”.

Ms Lal is the daughter of Chotu Lal, another prosecution witnesses in this matter.

Sen faces multiple charges, including one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, one count of conspiracy, seven counts of acts intended to cause grievous harm, two counts of criminal intimidation, one count of assault causing actual bodily harm, and one count of damaging property.

Chandra faces two charges: one count of conspiracy and one count of assault causing actual bodily harm.

They are represented by defence lawyers Aaron Sen and Simione Valenitabua.

The court heard how Ms Lal’s brother, Nitesh Sharma, tried to separate Sen and his father in a scuffle and to minimise further escalation of the situation told Chandra to take refuge inside Sen’s vehicle.

Ms Lal said Sen allegedly swore at her family members and threatened to return with a few iTaukei men to physically assault their mothers.

It is claimed that Chandra had struck her uncle Jawahir on the back of the head.

Prosecution sought clarification from Ms Lal as to where Chandra found the wine bottle.

Ms Lal said the wine bottle was already in the possession of Chandra.

“I saw the wine bottle from where I was standing beside my van near the driver’s seat,” she said.

Ms Lal said Sen then drove away with Chandra.

Following Sen’s departure, Ms Lal, used his uncle’s mobile phone to report the matter to police the same day.

Ms Lal said they decided to travel to a birthday party after the alleged incident.

The trial continues for the rest of the week.