The police prosecution has not discharged its burden in proving all elements of the charge of unlawful cultivation of illicit drugs against a Ba man beyond a reasonable doubt.
Magistrate Namrata Mishra, therefore, found Nirbhay Chand not guilty and acquitted him on April 28.
Mr Chand, charged with a count of unlawful cultivation of an illicit drug, had his fate determined by the Magistrate’s Court in Ba.
He was accused of cultivating 80 marijuana plants on September 30, 2019.
According to the allegations, police officers found containers with plants believed to be marijuana plants at Mr Chand’s property. The plants were sent to Suva for analysis, but the officer did not receive the plants after they were analysed.
During the trial, the court noted that the prosecution failed to adduce evidence to explain the discrepancy in the number of samples uplifted from Raviravi in Ba and taken for analysis, among other things.
“Prosecution failed to clarify with (its witness), the owner of the land, whether the creek where the plants were found was a private creek which was on his land or whether it was a creek that was adjacent to his land used by everyone within the area,” stated Ms Mishra in her judgment.
