Two on manslaughter charge acquitted, court rules head-blow an accident

THE Bomana National Court has acquitted two men who were charged with manslaughter after it found that the unlawfulness of one of the men’s conduct was not directed at the victim (deceased).
Justice Panuel Mogish found Wari Varage and Lua Iru not guilty of the charge after a no-case submission was submitted by the men’s lawyer Nathan Hukula from the Public Solicitors Office.
The two men were involved in a fight, armed with mangrove sticks used for fencing and in the course of the fight the victim (deceased) was struck on the head by Iru.
According to evidence, Iru’s father was arguing with Varage.
Iru saw this and pulled out a three-metre mangrove fence post from a nearby residence and ran towards Varage.
The deceased and his father then pursued Iru to ask why he had pulled out their fence post. Iru was not aware of their presence.
Iru swung the fence post at Varage who defended himself by swinging a mangrove post he had.
Both sticks clashed and in the process Iru’s stick struck the deceased on the head, causing him to fall to the ground and resulted in his death.
Justice Mogish said it was clear from the evidence and the state conceded that the unlawfulness of Iru’s conduct was not directed at the deceased. He was not aware that the deceased was around.
It was night time and there were many people nearby.
“His intention was to assault Varage. Instead it (the stick) struck the deceased on the head. What happened to the deceased was unfortunate. It was an act that occurred independently of the exercise of his free will or an event that occurred by accident,” Mogish said.
Varage Ravu, the father of Wari, who spoke on behalf of the men, thanked the court for the decision.
“We’ve been struggling for almost two years, from 2018 until 2020 to reach this decision. We would thank our lawyer, Nathan Hukula, for always being kind to us all throughout case,” Ravu said.