Judge cautions Ravu’s lawyer against prejudicing his defence

Suva High Court Judge, Justice Daniel Goundar has cautioned former Minister for Fisheries Kalaveti Ravu’s lawyer, Tevita Vakalalabure against making arguments that could prejudice his client’s defence.

This relates to the appeal case involving Ravu and former Fisheries Regional Manager North, Tekata Toaisi.

Ravu was charged with one count of abuse of office, while Toaisi faced a charge of abetting the offence.

Vakalalabure informed the court that during the trial, they had objected to the extracted Viber messages from Ravu's official phone.

Justice Goundar questioned whether Ravu had intervened due to legal advice to correct a wrongdoing, and if so, why was the evidence objected to.

The defence counsel says that while there was no issue with FICAC’s warrant to seize Ravu’s official phone, they should have sought another warrant to extract any data.

Vakalalabure said that the legality of the extraction was in question, and this had also been raised before the Magistrate.

The defence counsel argued that the State relied solely on unlawfully obtaining evidence.

He says the Magistrate's ruling of no case to answer was correct.

Acting Director of Public Prosecutions, Nancy Tikoisuva, told the court that they are appealing the matter on three grounds as much of the evidence was objected to and the prosecution was not allowed to present certain documents.

Tikoisuva argued that the Magistrate made an irregular ruling after the prosecution's case had closed.

She says unlawfully obtaining evidence can be used depending on its value; however, in this case, the Magistrate failed to assess the evidence.

The State counsel also noted that if the defence had issues with the Viber message evidence, they should have applied for a voir dire hearing.

Justice Goundar reminded Vakalalabure to stay focused and act in the best interests of his client.

The judgement will be delivered on August 29th.

Meanwhile, Ravu and Toaisi were acquitted in March this year.

It was alleged that between July 25th and August 31st, 2023, Ravu interfered in a Ministry of Forestry investigation into the illegal trade of banned species of beche-de-mer.

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