Former chief executive officer of Fijian Holdings Limited, Mohammed Nouzab Fareed was remanded in custody yesterday after being convicted on two counts of indecent assault involving a young female subordinate.
Justice Waleen George, giving her decision in her former position as a magistrate, convicted Fareed on both charges and revoked his bail until his sentencing on August 12.
The offences occurred on June 25 and September 13, 2019.
The judgment was delivered more than two years after the trial ended in January 2024.
The first charge related to an incident in which Fareed unlawfully and indecently assaulted the complainant by hugging her, sniffing her and rubbing his lips on her neck.
The second charge concerned a similar incident in his office at FHL on September 13, 2019.
In her 22-page judgment, Justice George rejected the defence case and accepted the complainant’s evidence, finding it was corroborated by an audio recording secretly made during the second incident.
Justice George said that after listening to the recording several times, she heard audible breathing, movement and sniffing that supported the complainant’s account.
The court found Fareed sniffed the complainant’s hair, kissed her forehead, ran his fingers around her ear and placed his hands around her chest without her consent.
Justice George accepted the complainant’s explanation that her laughter on the recording was nervous while she secretly recorded the encounter.
The judge rejected the suggestion that Fareed’s conduct amounted to innocent greetings or affection.
The court further found his actions were “calculated to groom the non-consenting young” victim, who was his subordinate, into becoming submissive to his unwanted advances.
Justice George said Fareed, having no burden to prove his innocence, was unconvincing in his testimony and did not appear to be telling the truth.
The judge ruled that adducing evidence that Fareed greeted female staff affectionately and called them “dear” or “darling” had the negative effect of portraying him as “sleazy” and “does not help the defendant’s case at all”.
