In his evidence, the principle defendant, Vudui, said at the time of events which led to the death of late Maraki, he was still in mourning, following the death of one of their staff and it was not their motive to assault Maraki.

Vudui told court that his motive for driving his vehicle was to go and look for Maraki, bring him back to the Saloon Bar and make him apologise to his girlfriend.

He confirmed that when they stopped on the road to Ramada where they met up with Maraki, he remained inside the truck. He only got out off the vehicle when three of his then work colleagues could not get Maraki to get onto the truck.

The defendant said when he got off from his vehicle, he yelled at Maraki to stop, as prior to that, Maraki had threw punches at three of his friends.

Vudui confirmed he punched the deceased just once on his nose and the deceased fell.

The deceased then got up, and Vudui asked two Willie and Nguyen to assist the deceased onto the truck. Vudui said at the time, Maraki still had his eyes open when they reached the Saloon Bar.

Meanwhile, Pathologist, Crystal Garae conveyed in court that the deceased had sustained severe head trauma due to blunt force injury to his head, which contributed significantly to his death.

Tomorrow, the counsels will be presenting their submissions before Justice Oliver Saksak.

SOURCE: VANUATU DAILY POST