The High Court has directed the magistrate presiding over the case of a 30-year-old man who entered the Prime Minister’s compound without permission to enter a not guilty plea.
Justice Daniel Goundar gave the directive on Tuesday (July 1) after examining the regularity of proceedings against the accused, Waisea Naitini.
The development came after the media highlighted that the magistrate was promoting reconciliation over a charge of criminal trespass instead of passing sentence on June 30.
Justice Goundar said the irregularities in the proceedings before the magistrate were of concern, given that no inquiry was made into the voluntariness of the guilty plea by the magistrate.
Justice Goundar said there was a clear dereliction of duty by the magistrate in failing to call for the facts in support of the charge before accepting Mr Naitini’s admission of the truth of the charge.
He said that had the magistrate exercised diligence in examining the correctness of the charge, he would have found the charge to be duplicitous since it contained elements taken from two separate provisions of the Crimes Act and merged into one charge.
He said the charge in its current form did not allege an offence contrary to Section 387 (c) of the Crimes Act, and as such, the true nature of the allegation was confusing.
Given the defects in the charge, Mr Naitini’s guilty plea was not a true reflection of his guilt.
“Without the facts, it is difficult to ascertain how the (magistrate) came to the determination that the charge in this case is ‘substantially of a person or private nature and not aggravated in degree’ in order to promote reconciliation between the complainant and the accused,” stated Justice Goundar.
He said Mr Naitini’s guilty plea was therefore vacated, and the order for the promotion of reconciliation made by the magistrate set aside.
The matter will proceed to trial in the event the DPP decides to continue with the prosecution.
Mr Naitini has been released on bail.
