Sairusi Ceinaturaga, who was convicted earlier this week of murdering his one-year-old stepson in Cunningham last year, will be sentenced on Monday, where the State is calling for a minimum of 20 to 30 years prison term while the defence is hoping for a lesser sentence of 14 years.
Ceinaturaga is convicted of one count of assault causing actual bodily harm and one count of murder.
He appeared before Justice Siainiu Bull in the Suva High Court this afternoon.
State Prosecutor Unal Lal says murder is the most serious of crimes and the mandatory sentence is life imprisonment and this case comes under the classification of extremely high.
Lal says this murder was committed with extreme brutality, Ceinaturaga did not take the child to the hospital after the deed and the aggravating factors are the loss of life of the toddler caused by his stepfather.
He says in the Victim Impact Statement, the mother of the toddler says sometimes her elder son would ask for his younger sibling Jeff, and then she would have to explain to her four-year-old that Jeff has died.
Defence counsel, Olive Grace says Ceinaturaga has already spent over one year in remand and is a first offender.
Grace says for the first count of assault causing actual bodily harm they are hoping for 6 to 18 months.
She says they are calling it a moderate level of harm as it was committed in a domestic setting and no weapon was used.
When Justice Bull questioned on what the doctors say in terms of the injuries, Grace says it was extreme.
She also said it was an opportunist offence as it was not planned.
Stay tuned for the latest news on our radio stations
