Judge orders ‘occupiers’ to vacate
The High Court in Suva has ordered the occupants of an eight-acre piece of land in Tamavua to vacate the property. The order was issued by Justice Usaia Ratuvili on July 9 concerning a civil matter involving Himalaya Parvat Company Pte Ltd and businessman Madhu Prakash as plaintiffs, and the occupiers as defendants. Represented by lawyer Mohammed Saneem, the plaintiffs had sought the removal of the defendants who they claimed had no legal right to occupy the property, and despite numerous notices, refused to vacate. Court records show the company had acquired the property in 1980, which was then subdivided into separate lots, one of which is owned by Mr Prakash. The company said it maintains the record of the owners of the lots, which are freehold land, which permits the owners to sell them to other buyers. Mr Prakash is the registered owner of a lot which he purchased from the estate of the previous owner, as confirmed by the company. One of the defendants had acknowledged the company as the owner of the land but refuted Mr Prakash’s ownership of one of the lots. He claimed his sister was still the registered owner of Mr Prakash’s lot. He also claimed to have been living on the disputed land since 2012 after his sister, who had emigrated to the US, gave him consent to remain on the property. Justice Ratuvili found that the son of the defendant’s sister took over ownership and ultimately sold the lot to Mr Prakash for $25,000. All eight defendants have been ordered to vacate the property. “I find that the plaintiffs, primarily (the company), have established that they have a legal interest in the land,” stated Justice Ratuvili on July 9. “The occupiers no longer have their permission to be on the land and any consent or licence given to the (occupiers) to be on (the lot) has been rescinded. “The defendants will pay costs, summarily assessed at $700 a month to pay.”
Court convicts man of assault
A man has been convicted of sexually assaulting his wife while their children were asleep in the same room in Nasinu. The 35-year-old was found guilty by Justice Usaia Ratuvili in the High Court in Suva on July 24. The accused had been drinking kava at a gathering and later drank some beer before deciding to visit his wife and children around 2am on September 26, 2023. The accused and the victim are separated. The 34-year-old victim awoke to the smell of alcohol as her husband committed the act, despite her telling him that what he was doing was wrong. She urged him to stop for fear of waking the children, but he claimed he had the right to have intercourse with her. When the children stirred due to the disturbance, he yelled at them to go back to sleep before trying to engage with her physically. He was initially charged with two counts of sexual assault and one of rape but was acquitted of one count each of sexual assault and rape.
