The Police Detective that interviewed the second accused Feoko Gadekibau, who is one of the 8 charged with conspiracy to murder Army Commander Commodore Bainimarama and others, was today asked why he never sought medical help for the accused who showed signs of having being assaulted.

During cross examination this morning, Defence counsel Akuila Naco questioned Detective Corporal Ilaisa Bacau about this matter after Gadekibau revealed while giving his statement to Police that he had been assaulted during his arrest.

All the Defence counsels questioned Bacau as to why Gadekibau was never given medical treatment, after his statement which was read in Court said that a soldier named Koro had allegedly assaulted him when he was arrested with Barbadoes Mills, Sivaniolo Naulago and Ballu Khan in early November 2007.

In response, Bacau told the High Court that there were procedures to follow when it came to complaints of assault and stressed that there was a unit set up in the Police Force that dealt with complaints of assault and Gadekibau would have had to go and lodge a complaint with the unit.

Bacau also revealed that during his briefing prior to interrogating Gadekibau, his superior ACP Nazir Ali only told them to interview and nothing else.

Meanwhile, during cross examination, Mehboob Raza also raised queries on where the Police had received information and questions to ask the accused on allegations that their plan was to kill the Army Commander and also to take out the President and have Jone Baledrokadroka act as President, to which Bacau said that before questioning the accused, he was handed a bullet point sheet of facts from ACP Ali and this was one of the questions listed.

When asked by all the defence lawyers if it was normal procedure to rely on bullet point facts when interviewing instead of statements, Bacau added that this was a totally different kind of questioning altogether, due to the urgency of the case as it dealt with the charge of conspiracy to murder the Army Commander and others.

Defence Counsel Mehboob Raza also questioned Bacau on why no lawyer was present.

However, Bacau revealed that Gadekibau did try to contact a lawyer, by the name of Sevuloni Valenitabua but was unsuccessful.

He also told the Court that the accused preferred to carry on with the police interrogation.

The trial continues.