Former CEO Found Guilty Of Indecent Assault

For a normal person, sniffing her while hugging, kissing her neck, and rubbing her back is indecent assault.

The statement was made by Chief Magistrate Usaia Ratuvili while delivering judgment in the case of a man, who was a former chief executive officer at a major company.

The offender has been found guilty of one count of indecent as­sault.

The offence took place at the of­fender’s office in Suva at around 8pm on May 15, 2019.

At the close of the state’s case af­ter trial, the defence counsels had filed a no case to answer.

However, the Chief Magistrate had ruled that there was a case to answer in the matter.

Judgement

In the judgment, Chief Magis­trate Ratuvili said the complain­ant and the offender met during an official visit and had been in contact where she had applied for a job at the offender’s office.

The court heard that the com­plainant was asked by the offend­er to meet him at 8pm at his office in Suva because he had a series of meetings during the day.

The court also heard that before and after the meeting, the offend­er had hugged the complainant, sniffed her, rubbed her back, and kissed her neck.

Defence

The offender in his defence had raised concerns about the delay the matter was reported to the Po­lice.

The Chief Magistrate said the complainant felt frightened and when she saw a Facebook post of another complainant coming for­ward to what was done to her, she then reported the matter to the Police.

The Chief Magistrate said the accused was a senior to the com­plainant and was a CEO of one of Fiji’s biggest companies while the complainant was a junior civil servant.

He said the prosecution had proved beyond reasonable doubt the elements of the charge.

The matter has been adjourned for mitigation and submissions on November 1.

Bail for the offender is extend­ed until further orders from the court. His name continues to be suppressed by court order.

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