The Director of Public Prosecutions Christopher Pryde says the State will consider an appeal against the decision of the Magistrates Court to discharge Sixtus Torokana on a charge of disobedience of lawful order.
The Magistrates Court discharged Torokana on 26th May 2020 on the grounds that the particulars of the offence were incorrect and there were conflicting decisions by the High Court which needed to be resolved by the Court of Appeal.
Pryde says it would appear that the Magistrate may have made an error of law and the State will now review the decision before deciding on whether to appeal.
Suva Magistrate Jioji Boseiwaqa had discharged Torokana as he said that there are two conflicting decisions in the High Court regarding offences under the Public Health Act 2009 that need to be resolved by the Fiji Court of Appeal.
Sixtus Torokana was earlier charged with disobeying a lawful order by being found without reasonable cause at Rewa Street at 1.10am on April 3rd this year within the curfew hours announced by the Prime Minister.
Torokana had pleaded guilty to the charge and also admitted the summary of facts.
Justice Boseiwaqa had said the court has considered the defendant’s mitigation. He said Torokana is married at 38 years of age, is a graduate student at the university in forensic accounting, he works for Solomon Islands Ports Authority, pleaded guilty, is a first offender, showed remorse and cooperated with the Police.
The magistrate said he has considered the High Court decision by Justice Vincent Perera on April 16th, Justice Salesi Temo’s decision on May 14th and also considered the declaration and order of the Acting Chief Justice Kamal Kumar on May 18th purporting to review and rescind the judgement of Justice Temo.
Torokana was discharged under the Criminal Procedure Act 2009.
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