Yacht’s what in Fiji
SERIOUSLY ill horse trainer John Nikolic’s mother and brother took time out from visiting him in a Fiji hospital at the weekend to check out his seized luxury yacht.
Nikolic is in hospital, and his wife Yvette is in jail on remand, after police raided the yacht Shenanigans, seizing what they said was a haul of drugs and guns and impounding the vessel.
His mother, Karen, and brother Danny, a well-known jockey, spent more than five ve hours at Denarau Marina, a, where the boat is moored.
They drank at The Rhum-Ba bar and restaurant, which overlooks the pier, selecting a table with a clear view of the yacht berths.
They were often on the e phone in serious conversation, n, and Danny appeared to be e writing or taking notes.
At one point, Karen strode purposefully out to the end of the Rhum-ba balcony and leaned over the railing, craning her head to get a better view of the end of the pier where Shenanigans is moored, though views of the vessel are largely obscured by multimillion-dollar superyachts.
The pair later left the Rhum-Ba and walked around the marina, stopping to ask questions at a catamaran service that takes tourists to near- by island resorts resorts.
They then settled into Cardo’s Steakhouse and Cocktail Bar, which also overlooks Port Denarau Marina and provides a different vantage point of the pier, for several hours.
They were also spotted shopping in an upmarket department store.
A waiter at the marina told News Corp he had watched on June 21 as John Nikolic, motionless and silent, was wheeled up the pier on an ambulance stretcher.
He had earlier seen a num- ber b of men walk up the pier and onto the yacht.
It is understood John Nikolic remains in intensive care in Lautoka Hospital after drinking a toxic cocktail, believed to have been liquid cocaine and methamphetamine.
His wife, Yvette, is to appear at Lautoka court tomorrow on drug possession and importation charges. She is on remand in Lautoka Women’s Corrections Centre.
At an earlier court appearance she asked to be allowed to retrieve a number of personal items from the boat and to have the yacht returned to her.
She also asked that she be allowed to visit her critically ill husband in hospital. All but the application for clothes and personal items were denied.
Fiji’s Revenue and Customs Service says it found 13 bars of cocaine worth as much as $20 million, 65 ecstasy tablets, $20,000 of undeclared cash, and two handguns and 97 rounds of ammunition aboard Shenanigans. The pair bought the yacht last year to sail the Pacific.