High Court Judge Justice Salesi Temo has found all the six accused guilty in the BSP Samabula robbery trial.
Justice Temo overturned the opinion of the two assessors who found the accused not guilty last Friday.
Josaia Usumaki and Kunal Edwin Prasad have been convicted of aggravated robbery while Solomoni Qurai, Tevita Sugu, Epeli Qaraniqio and Deshwar Kishore Dutt have been convicted of receiving stolen property.
The court heard that on 19th September 2012 Usumaki and others stormed into the BSP branch in Samabula and got away with 70,000 dollars in Fijian and foreign currency.
Justice Temo said one witness identified Usumaki as he had seen his photo in the front page of a newspaper an hour before the robbery.
He added the identification was high quality, true and correct which provides strong circumstantial evidence.
He said it does connect Usumaki to the robbery at BSP as he finds all prosecution witnesses credible.
Justice Temo adds that second accused Kunal Prasad confessed picking up escapees from Naboro Prison on 17th September 2012 and transporting the robbers after the robbery two days later.
He aded on Prasad’s allegation that he wasthreatened and assaulted by police, he had made no complaints against the police when he first appeared in court.
Justice Temo said no medical reports were shown on allegations made by Kunal Prasad that he was allegedly forced to walk like a cow and eat grass at the Military Barracks.
On other accused Solomoni Qurai, Tevita Sugu and Epeli Qaraniqio who escaped from Naboro Prison, Justice Temo said they were found with cash four days later.
They had cash which an average person in the country cannot earn in a week.
For the final accused Deshwar Kishore Dutt, Justice Temo said he was seen drinking grog and liquor with Kunal Prasad and he does not accept the accused person’s denial.
He added all witnesses who gave evidence were related to Dutt and he does not find their evidence credible.
High Court Judge Justice Salesi Temo will sentence the six accused on the 16th of March.
