41-year-old soldier, Private Maika Vuniwawa who was found guilty of manslaughter by the Suva High Court for causing the death of Nakelo villager Nimilote Verebasaga, has been sentenced to three years behind bars.
High Court Judge Justice Daniel Gounder said he had initially set a four year sentence but he reduced it to three years because Vuniwawa had originally offered to plead guilty to manslaughter before the commencement of the trial.
However, the plea was rejected by the prosecution at the time.
Justice Gounder said now that Vuniwawa has been convicted of manslaughter in principle, he deserves some credit for his plea of guilty to manslaughter as a sign of remorse.
The High Court Judge said the society cannot condone conducts that cause loss of human life and the right to life is a fundamental right protected by our constitution.
Justice Gounder told Vuniwawa and I quote "You must understand that Nimilote Verebasaga was entitled to the right of life. You took away that right by punishing him without affording him any due process of law, you failed in your duty to uphold the law" end of quote.
He went on to say that Verebasaga should not have died.
Judge Gounder told Vuniwawa that he had taken away a human life and Verebasaga's children will now grow up without their father.
Justice Gounder said in his caution interview, Vuniwawa said Veerebasaga was harassing the Indian families who were occupying his land as tenants.
Vuniwawa said when he arrived at the military camp, the deceased tried to escape and was caught, he was made to crawl and assaulted by Vuniwawa.
The post mortem report revealed that Verebasaga sustained serious injuries to his vital organs such as liver, lungs, pancreas and kidney.
Verebasaga died of hemorrhagic shock due to injuries to vital organs as a result of trauma and he died shortly after the assault.
