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{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}\pard\plain \qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid3220715 \fs20\lang1033\langfe1033\cgrid\langnp1033\langfenp1033 {\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321\charrsid3220715 IN THE SUPREME }{
\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 COURT OF FIJI
\par }{\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 Appellate Jurisdiction
\par }\pard \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid3220715 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 
\par }\pard \qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid3220715 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321\charrsid3220715 Criminal Appeal No. 35 of 1978
\par }\pard \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid3220715 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 
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\par }\pard \qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid3220715 {\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321\charrsid3220715 SOLOMONI VIRIKI
\par }\pard \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid3220715 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 
\par }\pard \qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid3220715 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321\charrsid3220715 and
\par }\pard \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid3220715 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 
\par }\pard \qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid3220715 {\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321\charrsid3220715 REGINAM
\par }\pard \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid3220715 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 
\par }\pard \qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid3220715 {\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321\charrsid3220715 JUDGMENT
\par }\pard \ql \li0\ri0\widctlpar\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid3220715 {\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 
\par }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321\charrsid3220715 
This is an appeal against the conviction of the appellant on the 6th April 1978 at Levuka Magistrates Court of shopbreaking entering and larceny contrary to section 333(a) of the Penal Code.
\par }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 
\par }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321\charrsid3220715 A consideration of the record reveals that the only evidence whic
h incriminated the appellant, as distinct from raising suspicion, was that of a Fijian woman from Gau named Vilisi who claimed to have found in a matchbox in the appellant's clothing a 
folded cheque which had been stolen from the Gau Cooperative Store two months earlier when the store had been broken into.}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321 
\par }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 
\par }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321\charrsid3220715 
The appellant from the very outset denied any knowledge of the shopbreaking and testified that he had never seen the cheque before and that it had never been in his possession, which necessitates subjecti}{
\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 ng the evidence o}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321\charrsid3220715 f Vilisi to the closest scrutiny.}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321 
\par }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 
\par }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321\charrsid3220715 It appears to be common ground that in August 1977 a rugby team came from Gau to Suva accompanied by others including the appellant and Vilisi and that while in Suva}{
\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715  }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid12273321\charrsid3220715 
the appellant stayed for a time at the house of Vilisi's cousin, Vilisi testified that the appellant left his clothes at her cousin's house for washing, and she claimed at first}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715  }{
\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 
that she had gone to the bathroom specifically for the purpose of washing the clothes and that while she was handling them a matchbox fell from the appellant's trousers which she opened and which she found contained not only matches but the folded cheque.
 This immediately gives rise to the question of why she should have deliberately opened and inspected the contents of a commonplace matchbox - but she gave no explanation to account }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 f}{
\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 or this unusual behaviour.}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715  }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 
Under cross-examination her version of events c
hanged significantly, as she alleged that her sole purpose in going to the bathroom had been to urinate and that while in the bathroom for that purpose she saw the matchbox with the cheque "by accident". Again, there was no explanation of why her attentio
n should have been attracted to a common}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 -}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 place matchbox, or of how she could have "accidentally" seen a cheque concealed inside}{
\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid9575156  it. It was put to her by }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 the}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid9575156  }{
\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 appellant that he had land }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid9575156 in Gau which was coveted by other villagers }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid9708722 
and that he had been obliged to order her }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 fa}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 r}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 ther off this}{
\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid9708722  land - in other words that she had a motive for lying}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715  - but }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid9708722 
she claimed to know nothing of such matters }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 despite the }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 f}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 
act that she and her parents came from the same village in Gau as the appellant.}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 
\par }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 
\par It is inherently implausible 
that the perpetrator of shopbreaking and larceny would carry around in his possession a useless cheque in a matchbox containing matches for a period of two months, when the possession of same would link him to the offence, and in view of the unsatisfactor
y nature of the evidence relating to the purported discovery of the cheque I am of the opinion that it would not be safe to let this conviction stand.}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 
\par }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 
\par The conviction is accordingly quashed and the sentence set aside.}{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715 
\par }{\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 
\par Suva,
\par 31st July 1978.
\par 
\par }\pard \qc \li0\ri0\widctlpar\faauto\adjustright\rin0\lin0\itap0\pararsid3220715 {\b\fs24\lang2057\langfe1033\langnp2057\insrsid3220715\charrsid3220715 Clifford H. Grant
\par Chief Justice
\par }}