Mother’s Day Shopping Trip Turns Fatal
Plans to celebrate Mother’s Day yesterday were shattered for a Nadroga family after they lost their mom in a fatal road accident on Saturday. It happened along the Queens Highway near Uciwai in Nadi. Salanieta Nai, 40, was returning from her Mother’s Day shopping when she was was bumped by a vehicle driven by a 41-year-old man. She was crossing the road on her way back to Nabila Village. Ms Nai’s husband, Sakiusa Gasaucalayawa said their last conversation was when he bid her goodbye when she left for Nadi Town on that day.
“She got dressed and then she contemplated whether to go to town or not because of the weather,” a distraught Mr Gasaucalayawa said. “After a while, she saw the bus and then she changed her mind to go to town with our daughters,” he said.
“We waited for them, but only to receive the news that she was involved in an accident along the Queens Highway.
“It is painful to move on now with these memories. We fight at times, but we have always loved and cherished each other in the past eight years of our marriage.”
He said the funeral had been scheduled for Thursday.
Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro confirmed that the victim was crossing the road when she was bumped by the vehicle.
She said the victim was rushed to the Nadi Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
The suspect (driver) is in police custody after he surrendered himself at the Nadi Police Station, Ms Naisoro said.
Meanwhile, the national road death toll stands at 38 compared to 12 for the same period last year.