ISLAND MURDER TRIAL

Otago Witness, Issue 3244, 17 May 1916, Page 9

ISLAND MURDER TRIAL

FIVE MEN TO BE HANGED. The Taviuni murder trial, which presented remarkable features, was brought to a conclusion in the Fiji iSupremc Court on April 28, before his Honor Chief Justice Dawson. In this case live Indians, named Mahomed Jamal, Nokki Potagadu, Ramchander, Sirichand, and Amudala Pillay Kotiah, wore charged with the murder of a sirdar, Ramfal,on the Sogulu Estate, Taviuni, in February of 1915. Witnesses agreed in tho admission that they had deliberately misled the coroner by presenting to him a concocted account of Ramfal's death. They stated frankly that the story represented a deep-laid conspiracy. There was, however, considerable conflict of testimony as to who actually perpetrated the crime. Some of the witnesses declared that the whole gang of 17 men who .were working under tho sirdar were implicated, while other witnesses asserted that all took part in the murder except four men. Potagadu, one of the accused, gave evidence on his own behalf, and denied absolutely having had anything to do with the murder. lie indicated that blame should attach chiefly to Sirichand and Mahomed Jamal. It will be remembered that, in the Lower Court, the accused all blamed each other. The evidence also showed that the assault which apparently caused the death of Ramfa! was of a horrifying nature. It was detailed to the court how Ramfal's assailants jumped on his body and smashed his ribs; how they rubbed red pepper in his eyes. After a brief review of the evidence the Chief Justice announced that tho Court found that all five of the accused -were guilty of the crime of having murdered the sirdar. His Honor then asked the accused each in his turn whether he wished to make any statement. Ramchander, in the course of a statement, pleaded for leniency, on the ground that he cad told the sahib .about the murder. Amudala Pillay Kotiah declared that he was nowhere near the scene when the murder was committed. The other two accused, Nokki Potagadu R-nd Sirichand, declined to say anything. His Honor then passed sentence of death on tho whole of the five prisoners, who received it with calmness.