A man, whose attack on his 17 year old nephew led to him having an asthma attack which caused his death, has been handed a six month suspended sentence by the Suva High Court.
While sentencing, High Court Judge Justice Daniel Goundar states that the 45 year old in August 2009 suspected his nephew of stealing cucumber from his farm and searched for him.
He found the deceased hiding under the bed in his aunty's home and while trying to get him to come out, kicked him in the face.
The Judge notes that this led to the victim getting into a fit and the man dragged him out to massage him.
The victim was taken to hospital but was pronounced dead.
Justice Goundar said the post mortem revealed that the victim did not die due to the kick to his face but because of an asthma attack brought about by panic.
Based on the post mortem findings, the state reduced the charge from murder to assault occassioning actual bodily harm and he pleaded guilty to the reduced charge.
Judge Goundar sentence the man to six months and suspended it for five years taking into account the 45 year olds clean record and guilty plea.
Story by: Roneel Lal
