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The lawyer for Naitasiri high chief Ratu Inoke Takiveikata says his client’s involvement in the plot to kill Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama was minimal.
Akuila Naco made the statement in mitigation in the High Court in Suva this morning.
Naco said Takiveikata had made a major contribution to the development of Naitasiri and was an influential and respectable man.
Takiveikata is married to his second wife and has nine children and eleven grandchildren, Naco said.
Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua Party (SDL) director Peceli Kinivuwai provided a character reference for Takiveikata saying the chief was instrumental in the party’s formation to bring about reconciliation after the 2000 coup.
Judge Justice Paul Madigan is scheduled to hand down judgment following the mitigation.
Takiveikata and seven others were yesterday unanimously declared guilty by assessors of plotting to assassinate Bainimarama, Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and then Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry in 2007.
