The Suva High Court has set aside the sentence of three years for the theft of Samuela Macedru.
Macedru was sentenced by the Suva Magistrates Court after he was convicted of one charge of theft of a purse containing $500 and one count of resisting arrest.
He appealed these convictions in the High Court.
While delivering his judgement, Judge Justice Paul Madigan said in the interests of transparency, Magistrates must be seen to deal with every charge that comes before them and their notes, no matter how busy they are, must show the world that there is due process in their courts and that every accused person has a fair trial.
Justice Madigan noted that the resisting arrest charge had never been put to the accused.
He says Macedru was never asked to enter a plea to it.
He also said that the dock identifications of the accused by the complainants which were the husband and wife were unreliable and it would be safe to confirm the conviction of the accused on the basis of two identifications alone.
The Judge said the Magistrate had not bothered to address any other issues in his judgement apart from identification.
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