Man Accused of Arson to Face Trial in May

The High Court in Suva has set the trial date of a man accused of setting fire to the Navuso Agricultural Technical Institute (NATI) for later this year.

Emosi Tikoicina, who is facing one count of arson, appeared before Justice Thushara Rajasinghe this week.

He is alleged to have willfully and unlawfully set fire to the NATI building and its contents on April 7, last year.

Tikoicina is on bail.

During the hearing, the court was informed that a voire dire (a trial within a trial) would be held ahead of the main proceedings. The defence argued that Tikoicina was assaulted by police while in custody — a claim that will be addressed during the voire dire. Justice Rajasinghe questioned the defence lawyer on readiness for the hearing, particularly over a failure to file an alibi notice for Tikoicina.

In response, State prosecutor Zenith Zunaid told the court that the prosecution planned to call nine witnesses for the voire dire and 11 witnesses for the full trial.

The main trial is scheduled to run from May 4 to August 15. With preliminary issues now clarified, Justice Rajasinghe adjourned the case to June 13, for mention.

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