Suspended, Ex-Corrections Officers Deny Assault Charges
The matter has been adjourned for mention on February 24, for a pre-trial conference.
Friday 04 February 2022 | 10:01
From Left: Nemani Vasuvulagi, Joji Raqamate and Apisai Naqamu. outside court, Photo: Ashna Kumar
Two former Fiji Corrections Service officers and six suspended Corrections officers charged in relation to the assault and death of Seremaia Naidole Momo, have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Seremaia Momo was a serving prisoner in 2019.
The two former officers are Josefa Boletakibureta, 23, and Apisai Naqamu, 50.
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The six suspended officers are Isei Rakaso, 41, Pita Raikoso, 24, Waisea Sadranu, 42, Josefa Satini, 35, Nemani Vasuvulagi, 28, and Joji Raqamate, 35.
They appeared before Judge Justice Thushara Rajasinghe on Wednesday.
The matter has been adjourned for mention on February 24, for a pre-trial conference.
Bail for the accused persons has been further extended.
The charges:
Rakaso, Raikoso, and Boletakibureta are jointly charged with one count of assault causing actual bodily harm.
Sadranu and Satini are each charged with one count of acts intended to cause grievous harm.
Koroi is charged with one count of acts intended to cause grievous harm. Koroi, Raqamate, Sadranu, Tikoigau, Rakaso, Vasuvulagi, Satini, Raikoso, and Naqamu are jointly charged with one count of acts intended to cause grievous harm. Rakaso is charged with one count of complicity in the suicide of another.
It is alleged that Rakaso on February 20, 2019, at Lami wilfully procured the suicide of Seremaia Momo by telling him to kill himself with a plastic wire inside the Solitary Block in Naboro Minimum Corrections Centre.
Feedback: ashna.kumar@fijisun.com.fj
