1 week Ago By ANDREW NAIDU
TWO men accused of murdering a Fiji-born Canadian national near Korovou in Tailevu in February last year will be sentenced today. Salimoni Lagicere and Edward Nand will have their fate decided by Justice Siainiu Fa’alogo Bull for killing Narend Chand during a drinking session on February 19, 2003. It’s alleged Chand had been planning to meet a “female” he’d been communicating with on social media, but unbeknownst to him the female’s fake profile was administered by one of the accused.
The pair then allegedly made plans to meet and rob Chand upon his arrival in Fiji. Upon his arrival, they allegedly travelled with him on the pretext of meeting the woman he’d been communicating with. His body was later found floating in the Waimaro River near Waito Settlement in Tailevu.
During closing submissions on August 8, Mr Lagicere’s lawyer, Loqi Cati, and Mr Nand’s lawyer, Sunil Gosai, submitted that Mr Nand’s ex-girlfriend, Leba Ratabacaca, was an accomplice in the dumping of Chand’s unconscious or dead body. Mr Cati told the court the amended information had failed to prove a reasonable doubt that Mr Lagicere had committed the offence of murder and should therefore, be acquitted. Mr Gosai claimed the alleged weapons — a steel rod and the electrical cord — could not have been used in the crime because it did not contain any traces of blood.
However, State prosecutor Zenith Zunaid said Ms Ratabacaca was never an accomplice but simply an eyewitness who was traumatised by the incident. Mr Zunaid further submitted that if the ex-girlfriend was an accomplice, then she would have stayed with Mr Nand, but this was not the case as she chose to run away from her “abusive” boyfriend..
