A Labasa taxidriver was murdered in 2024 because his killer felt he had been cheated of a bucket of marijuana supplied to him a few weeks earlier.
High Court judge Justice Lee Burney said this as he sentenced Kositino Latianara, 34, to life imprisonment for the murder of Amitendra Kumar.
He also fixed 20 years as the minimum term Latianara must serve before pardon may be considered. Justice Burney said Latianara had made a full confession to having murdered Kumar during an interview with police. He said the prosecution had identified a number of factors that made the offence more serious.
“The murder involved a significant degree of planning,” he said.
“The deceased was providing a valuable public service as a taxidriver. You used excessive violence. Finally, you threw away your knife in an attempt to conceal the murder weapon.”
Latianara remained in custody for almost two years pending disposal of the case.
