poledriver
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2005
- Messages
- 11,543
Yeah, judge gets last say it seems.
On Wednesday, five assessors in the High Court of Fiji at Lautoka unanimously found Abourizk not guilty of unlawful possession of illicit drugs.
Assessors are the equivalent of professional jurors and they give their opinion to a judge.
But judges are not bound by their decisions.
On Friday morning, Justice Thushara Rajasinghe found Abourizk was guilty and will sentence him next Thursday. The maximum sentence is life.
"He's crushed, we're all crushed," his Sydney lawyer Warwick Korn told Fairfax Media from Fiji.
"Every single one of the assessors who heard the evidence found him not guilty and yet next week he will be sentenced," Mr Korn said.
"It's very difficult to comprehend."
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