Bail Hearing Told Raju May Be Flight Risk
Illawarra Mercury
Friday October 20, 2006
FIJIAN national Kaniappa Raju was likely to leave Australia if released on bail and not return to stand trial for murder, a Crown prosecutor has told a Wollongong bail hearing.
The NSW Supreme Court murder trial of Raju was aborted on Tuesday after the Solomon Islands Government withdrew permission for key witnesses to travel to Australia.The trial was into its third week and had heard evidence from more than 30 witnesses. Raju, 46, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his de facto wife Aruna Verma on June 2, 2002, and attempting to murder her a month earlier. Ms Verma has not been seen since she disappeared from her Port Kembla home more than four years ago.Yesterday, defence barrister Dina Yehia applied for bail, saying Raju had been in custody since December 17, 2004, and it was unlikely a new trial would begin before March.But Crown prosecutor Paul Cattini said he was concerned Raju planned to leave Australia and not return. He said Raju had no reason for his previous trip to the Solomon Islands within days of Ms Verma disappearing.Ms Yehia tendered a chronology of Raju's contact with Solomons police and said he never hid from them.She criticised the weakness of the Crown case, which relies on an alleged confession Raju made in the Solomons to his former employer, Anthony Whittall.She said the confession was not reported to police until a month later and Mr Whittall was now wanted for allegedly conspiring to murder Raju. "There would appear to be no evidence of a forensic type which links the accused to any crime," Ms Yehia said.The bail application was adjourned on a date to be fixed.
© 2006 Illawarra Mercury