Suva High Court Judge Justice Daniel Goundar today asked a state lawyer to run a check on the phone records of the immediate family members of a man charged with murder and who fled the country.

Deo Naidu, a former taxi driver is charged with the murder of a passenger in his taxi in 2006 and the High Court heard that the accused had managed to flee the country.

Justice Goundar had earlier asked the state lawyer, Lisiate Fotofili during a previous court sitting to provide a background as to how Naidu was able to flee the country.

This morning, Fotofili informed the High Court that Naidu had two passports, both of which had expired.

Fotofili added that Naidu had surrendered one of the expired passports to the court while he was able to renew the other expired passport and used this to flee the country.

The state lawyer also informed the High Court that Naidu was not on the Immigration watch list and that his visa application was processed by a travel agent and he was allowed to leave the country.

Judge Goundar asked the state lawyer about Naidu's family to which he was informed that Naidu and his wife were divorced and they have never contacted each other.

Judge Goundar then told Fotofili to check the phone records of the immediate family members to see if any call were received from India or any other overseas countries.

The matter has been adjourned to the 8th of October.


Written by: Praneeta Deo.