Fiji authorities chase Yvette Nikolic as drug smuggler John Nikolic appeals
The wife of drug smuggler John Nikolic has refused to accept appeal papers, which would see her hauled back to court in Fiji. But proceedings might go ahead without her.
Police & Courts
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The wife of drug smuggler John Nikolic is refusing to accept appeal papers from Australian Federal Police, which would see her hauled back to court in Fiji.
But Fiji’s public prosecutor on Wednesday morning said it would seek to have Yvette Nikolic’s appeal heard in absentia, which meant she could be retried and potentially convicted and sentenced on drug smuggling and firearms charges without facing court.
If that occurred, Mrs Nikolic could be hunted down in Australia as a fugitive and forced back to prison in Fiji.
The mum of two and aspiring naturopath spent about eight months in Fiji prisons before being acquitted of all charges and allowed to walk free from the Suva High Court in February last year, while her horse trainer husband, John Nikolic, was convicted and handed a 23-year prison term a month later.
Mrs Nikolic returned to Australia the day after being released and the Fiji Office of the Department of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) is now appealing her acquittal, claiming the High Court judge erred in law when he deemed she had ‘no case to answer’.
The Fiji appeal court yesterday heard the AFP had tried, but failed, to personally serve papers on Mrs Nikolic.
Fiji authorities would now try sending the documents to her by registered mail, it was told.
If she continued to refuse to accept the papers, an appeal against her acquittal could not proceed, unless it was heard in absentia, the ODPP said.
This was the course of action now planned, it said.
Meanwhile John Nikolic is appealing his lengthy sentence, which carries a minimum term of 18 years.
Looking happier and heavier than he did after being convicted of cocaine smuggling and firearms charges in March 2019, Nikolic was yesterday protected by Suva prison guards as he walked in and out of court.
The special treatment was a far cry from that seen during his long-running court case, when he was paraded in front of media daily.
Wearing traditional Fiji prison garb and shielding his face with his appeal papers, Nikolic appeared to be on friendly terms with his captors.
He had initially planned to appeal both his conviction and sentence but was now only appealing the length of his prison term, the court heard.
Thirteen bars of cocaine worth up to $30 million, drug tablets, guns and $15,000 in US $100 bills were found on the Nikolics’ yacht Shenanigans when it was raided by Fiji Customs authorities at Denarau Marina on June 22, 2018.
The loved-up couple had been on what they described as “the holiday of a lifetime”, sailing through the Pacific before their yacht was raided.
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