Former Police Officer Michael Shalendra Pratap who was sentenced to 12 years and 11 months imprisonment for raping a 17‑year‑old girl in January, last year has filed an appeal against conviction and sentence.
High Court Judge Justice Vincent Perera had found 43-year-old Pratap guilty of three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault last month.
Pratap’s lawyer Jiten Reddy has submitted in his grounds of appeal that the High Court Judge erred in law when he failed to direct the assessors to consider the complainant’s evidence that Pratap has a tattoo of a rose on his leg but in reality there was no rose tattooed on either leg of Pratap.
Reddy has also stated that the Judge erred in law to accept the evidence of the fourth prosecution witness as reliable when prosecution failed to provide other supportive documents to prove that Pratap was in Nasese at the particular time of the incident.
Reddy has also submitted that the sentence is harsh and excessive taking into consideration all circumstances of the matter.
The Fiji Court of Appeal is yet to set a hearing date.
