High Court Judge Justice Thushara Rajasinghe has sentenced two men to life imprisonment for murder.
Niko Balewairiki and Eroni Raivani murdered Jai Prasad on 1st January 2017, in Lokia, Nausori.
They were charged with one count of murder and one count of aggravated robbery.
While sentencing the men, Justice Rajasinghe said the two along with an accomplice invaded the house of Prasad, who lived alone in the house.
Justice Rajasinghe says they used high level of force on the deceased in order to incapacitate him.
He says this was a pre-planned crime and they had planned to rob the deceased to buy more alcohol in order to celebrate the dawn of 2017 adding that by doing that they killed an innocent man.
Justice Rajasinghe told Balewairiki that the deceased was the best friend of his father but still he decided to proceed with this unlawful plan of robbery and killed his father’s best friend.
The two will have to serve a minimum of 22 years in prison before a pardon can be considered.
Meanwhile, Waisea Motonivalu was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017 after he had pleaded guilty to killing Prasad.
He will have to serve a minimum of 20 years in jail before any pardon could be considered.
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