Praneeta Prakash 
A 35-year-old man has been sentenced to seven years in jail for manslaughter. He must serve five years before being eligible for parole.
The sentence was handed down by Justice Daniel Goundar in the Suva High Court.
The accused, Anish Jattan was initially charged with murder but was found guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter.
The court was told the incident happened on 11 December 2022 at Uluitoa settlement in Wainibuku.
Jattan had been drinking grog with others at the home of the deceased, Ronal Kumar.
Kumar came home drunk and became upset after finding his de-facto partner entertaining guests.
He began shouting, swearing, and told everyone to leave.
A relative tried to calm him down and took him outside.
But Kumar kept shouting and used obscene language. He again ordered the guests to leave.
Jattan became angry. He walked outside, confronted Kumar, swore at him, and punched him several times in the head.
Kumar fell to the ground. Jattan then stomped on his head.
Kumar didn’t get back up.
A relative stepped in and challenged Jattan, who showed no remorse.
He told the relative to take Kumar to the hospital and bring him back after recovery so he could hit him again.
Kumar died within thirty minutes.
A post-mortem confirmed he suffered brain bleeding caused by blunt force trauma to the head.
Justice Goundar said Jattan may be released after five years if he shows good behaviour while in prison.
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