Canadian national Joshua Rahman is now a free man after the Court of Appeal quashed his conviction and set aside his 23 years imprisonment for possessing 39.5 kilograms of cocaine.
It was alleged that the 31-year-old was found with cocaine worth $31 million in Caubati in February 2019 and was found guilty, and then sentenced on October 12th 2021.
In their ruling the Court of Appeal says Suva High Court Judge Justice Daniel Goundar erred in fact and law when he accepted evidence from a police officer that Rahman was not informed of the nature of any charge that maybe brought against him since another police officer in his statement said Rahman was arrested in Nadi for dealing with drugs.
They ruled that Justice Goundar made a mistake when he held that search warrants may be executed at night even though the Magistrate or Justice of Peace who authorised the warrant did not sanction the search at night.
The Appeals Court ruled that he also erred when he held that Rahman’s arrest was lawful since he was subsequently caution interviewed on 13th to 15th February, 2019 for meeting Sam Amine and two other individuals and that this was an uncharged act.
They also ruled that the judge made a mistake when he held that Rahman was not unlawfully detained in breach of the 2013 Constitution since he was detained for more than 48 hours from about 11pm on 12th February to about 7.45pm on 15th February, 2019.
The Court of Appeal has ordered a new trial to be held as soon as practicable.
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