The bail application hearing of 21 year old alleged rapist Petero Bai started in the Suva High Court today with the first witness, the officer in charge at the Suva Prison taking the witness stand.
Bai is charged with attempted murder and rape and is alleged to have raped a class three student, who was found unconscious in the school toilet and he allegedly punched the victim before sexually assaulting her.
Bai is now seeking bail because he alleges that he was assaulted by some prison officers.
Prison officer Apilemeki Navuni today highlighted that when Bai was brought into Korovou Prison on the 31st of March, he was taken into the isolation block which was highly secure.
Navuni said when Bai was first brought in, he was examined by Dr Ranjeet Singh of the Lami Health Centre and the same doctor examined Bai again yesterday.
According to Navuni there was no history of assault and Bai was fully fit, adding there were no complaints of trauma in the doctor’s report.
Navuni reveals the reason for putting Bai in isolation was the fact that the victim's father is also an inmate in prison and he has friends and comrades in the prison population, stressing that Bai was not safe being in remand with other inmates.
Defence lawyer, Barbara Malimali then asked Navuni whether it was true that whenever Bai walks out to have his shower, he is being assaulted, sworn at, kicked, having a foot shoved into his face, and the use of a hose pipe to hit him as well as being called names while having his shower.
Navuni stressed whenever Bai is taken out of his cell, he is supervised by prison officers at all times.
He also denied the allegation put forward by Malimali that prison officers had allegedly assaulted Bai, stressing that the officers were only allowed to supervise.
Navuni also stressed that in the isolation block, Bai is the sole occupant and that the other inmates do not have access to the isolation block.
The Case continues this hour with the second witness Inspector Isoa Natui from the Police Crime Sexual Offense against Children Division expected to take the stand.
