A DISPUTED sequence of events following a night of drinking in Nadi has led the High Court in Lautoka to acquit a man of rape.
According to the November 6 judgment delivered by Justice Sunil Sharma, the night began on August 2, 2024, when the 20-year-old complainant arrived in Nadi and socialised with her partner and friends at a nightclub.
At about 2am, the group met the man at a liquor shop before continuing to drink on Ragg St.
By 4am, the complainant and the man entered a double-storey compound, where both parties agreed and consensual sexual activity occurred before her partner interrupted them.
While the complainant alleged the man subsequently took her to a nearby kindergarten compound and raped her in a concrete sink, the man maintained they parted ways.
Citing evidentiary gaps and a nine-day delay in reporting the matter to police, Justice Sharma found the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, noting that after carefully considering the evidence from both sides, the court did not accept the complainant’s account of what occurred at the kindergarten compound as reliable and truthful.
