The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has announced the appointment of three senior prosecutors as Deputy DPP.
In a statement, the Acting DPP John Rabuka said that Pauline Madanavosa has been appointed Deputy DPP while senior lawyers Meli Vosawale and Laisani Tabuakuro are to act on the same position.
Background
Suva lawyer Pauline Madanavosa is a law graduate from the University of the South Pacific and joined the ODPP as a legal officer in 2003.
She worked her way up to the post of Principal Legal Officer and in 2009, she was appointed as the Manager for the Child Protection Division which specialised in prosecuting sexual offences against children.
Madanavosa was promoted to the role of Manager for the newly established Appeals Division at the ODPP in 2018 and currently oversees the training of prosecutors both internally and overseas.
In 2019, Madanavosa was part of an international visitor leadership program under the ‘U.S. Judicial System-Protecting Women and Children’.
Madanavosa has over 23 years of experience and has dedicated her service to the ODPP.
Senior prosecutor, Meli Vosawale, graduated from the University of the South Pacific and has been part of the ODPP since 2011.
Vosawale became the Senior Legal Officer at the ODPP in 2014.
He was appointed the Acting Principal Legal Officer and Manager, Sexual Crimes Division in 2016.
In 2019, he was confirmed to the substantive post of the Principal Legal Officer and later took an internal transfer as Manager for the General Crimes Division in 2021.
Vosawale has prosecuted numerous cases from the Magistrates Court to the Supreme Court in his 13 years of services at the ODPP.
He has trained various prosecutors over the years and continues to be a mentor to many prosecutors at the ODPP.
Also, Suva lawyer Laisani Tabuakuro graduated from the University of the South Pacific and has been in practice for 15 years.
She started her legal career with the ODPP before venturing into private practice.
Tabuakuro comes with a vast knowledge and experience both in criminal and civil practices.
She has worked as a prosecutor in Fiji and in other Pacific Island Countries.
In December 2023, she returned to Fiji after working as an Assistant Attorney General in the Republic of Palau.
The trio now joins Deputy DPP, Lee Burney, at the ODPP headquarters in Suva.
