CRIME IN FIJI

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19359, 14 July 1925, Page 4

CRIME IN FIJI

MURDEROUS ASSAULTS THREE DEATH SENTENCES SKULL CLOVEN WITH CANE KNIFE SUVA. July 1. The sittings of the Lautoka Circuit Court were very heavy. Owing to illness of the Chief Justice, Mr Neill acted under a special commission. The first case taken was a rather remarkable one. Three Indians set upon a countryman, named Ramphal, on March 10, on the Government Road at Matasaulevu, and beat him with a stick, quite in the style of the modern thug. Not finding they were making much progress in this way, a knife was brought into requisition, and with it Ramphal was stabbed several times, many wounds being inflicted. They then dragged the body into a swamp, and to be sure that the job was well done the savages jumped on and kneaded the body with their feet. One would have thought that under such circumstances Ramphal should have been down and out. So the assailants thought, for they loft their victim as dead, and when they had gone he recovered sufficiently to struggle on to the road, where he was found by Air Frank Simmons, who, peculiarly enough, was somewhat similarly handled some three years ago by some desperadoes, who were never traced. The three men were found guilty and sentenced to a mild 18 months each.

Another case was where two Indians were charged with assaulting another with an iron spike. One got four months and the other got free. A constable named Dayal Singh had a "set” against an Indian and went to his house at 2 a.iu. and called otit to him, and when Mahommed looked out of his window he was shot in the shoulder with a revolver. This is the first case where a revolver has been used as a weapon of offence by an Indian. The "bobby” was sent to gaol for three years. On February 20 the headless body of an Indian woman, named Sukhraji, was found near the Ba River and enclosed in a bag. Lal or, her head was found on the river’s bank. Two Indians were arrested for the crime. They absolutely denied any knowledge of the matter, and one claimed ho had been in bed for three weeks at. the lime of the crime. However, piece by piece the evidence was woven round them. A blood-splash-ed mat in their house, blood marks on the door of their house, and, finally, some of the woman's things buried under their house, all confirmed the police theory that they had the right men. To the end, however, they protested intfoccnce. Both were condemned to be hanged. Abdul Rahmain lent his wife to a friend, Hansa, and went away for a while, and on his return, without any quarrel, started out at 1 a.m. to chop the woman up, and when her cries awakened Hansa, Abdul cleft him to

the brain twice with the big cane knife he was using with vigour on the woman. Hansa was killed, although the woman recovered with the loss of an amputated hand. Abdul was found gnilty, but for some reason was recommended to mercy and sentenced to death. The crime was a most coldblooded one, and all due to the evil conduct of the murderer. Some remarkable things are done in Fiji in the name of justice.