Supreme Court Orders Limited Retrial In Vuda Point Drug Appeal Case
The High Court Judge will take a decision and pass judgment uninfluenced by the views expressed by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court and as if he were hearing the matter de novo.
Friday 26 August 2022 | 11:23
Australian national Joseph Abourizk (right) and former Fijian taxi driver Josese Muriwaqa (middle back) with their lawyer Abhay Singh outside the Supreme Court of Fiji on August 25, 2022. Photo: Ashna Kumar
The Supreme Court of Fiji has ordered a limited re-trial in the criminal appeal case of Australian Australian national Joseph Abourizk and former Fijian taxi driver Josese Muriwaqa.
Abourizk and Muriwaqa were convicted and jailed by the High Court in Lautoka for one count of unlawful possession of 49.9 kilograms of cocaine near Vuda Point on July 13, 2015.
The High Court had handed 14 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 12 years.
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They appealed against their conviction and sentence to the Fiji Court of Appeal while the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) appealed against their sentences.
The Court of Appeal increased their imprisonment terms to 25 years with a non-parole period of 20 years.
The Supreme Court of Fiji in April this year ordered the petitioners’ application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court was granted.
It also ordered that the petitioners’ appeals against their conviction were allowed and their convictions were quashed and the Director of Public Prosecutions notify the Court of an order of a new trial if proposed to do so.
The DPP had made the application to apply for a new trial.
The Supreme Court inclusive of a panel of Judges, Justice Anthony Gates, Justice Priyasath Dep, and Justice Madan Lokur, yesterday ordered a limited retrial in the exercise of the power conferred by Section 14 of the Supreme Court Act read with Section 23 (2) (a) of the Court of Appeal Act.
The court also ordered the limited retrial to be held by a High Court Judge other than the learned Judge who heard and decided the case in the first instance.
The court also ordered the High Court Judge to take into consideration only the trial record without hearing fresh evidence.
The new High Court Judge would not refer to the summing up by his predecessor, the view of the assessors, and the judgment of his predecessor.
The High Court Judge will take a decision and pass judgment uninfluenced by the views expressed by the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court and as if he were hearing the matter de novo.
The Supreme Court ordered that the High Court Judge would hear and decide the case before him expeditiously, and meanwhile, the petitioners (Abourizk and Muriwaqa) were remanded in custody till the first mention of their case at the High Court in Lautoka on September 16.
There has been no order as to costs.
Feedback: ashna.kumar@fijisun.com.fj
