Judge rejects bid to halt cocaine export trial

The High Court has dismissed an application to permanently halt criminal proceedings against a man accused of attempting to export cocaine to Australia, ruling that the case should proceed to trial.

Fredrick Epeli and Justin Ho appeared before Justice Riyaz Hamza in the High Court in Lautoka last Thursday.

Aca Rayawa represented Epeli, Samuela Heritage appeared for Ho, and Joeli Naivalu represented the State.

The two are charged with one count each of unlawful exportation of illicit drugs and unlawful possession of illicit drugs.

The prosecution alleges that on December 23, 2018, the pair attempted to export 2015.7 grams of cocaine to Sydney, Australia, without lawful authority. It further alleges they were involved in the transfer, transport, supply and sale of the illicit drugs.

Epeli, a former Fiji Airways senior flight attendant, is alleged to have arranged a bag containing the drugs with Ho. A female flight attendant, who allegedly checked the bag under Epeli's direction, is said to have discovered the drugs and alerted Police

The case was discontinued in 2020 after drug exhibits went missing from Namaka Police Station. The disappearance of the exhibits resulted in a nolle prosequi being entered by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions while further investigations were carried out.

During Thursday's proceedings, the court heard Epeli's application for a permanent stay of proceedings in High Court.

The defence argued that prosecutorial misconduct, missing evidence and incomplete disclosure had compromised Epeli's right to a fair trial. It submitted that full disclosure could not be achieved because key exhibits and documents were missing.

Justice Hamza dismissed the application, ruling that the issues raised had already been considered in previous court decisions and could be properly determined during the trial.

The judge said the court's inherent power to permanently stay criminal proceedings should be exercised only in exceptional circumstances where a fair trial was impossible. He found that threshold had not been met.

Because of the judge's upcoming leave, trial dates scheduled for August were vacated and rescheduled for November 2 to 6. A pre-trial conference will be held on September 16.

Bail conditions and production warrants were extended, and the parties were directed to make the necessary arrangements for the revised court timetable.