Man who drops off sons at work and at rugby match, dies on his return
Awoman cried desperately as the news of the death of her husband began to sink in. Etuate Nagalu Balemila dropped one of his sons at work and the other at a rugby match yesterday morning. It is understood that the 55-year-old was returning to his home in Drauniwalai, Sawani.
Police said when his car allegedly veered onto the opposite lane crashing into a bus, killing him instantly. As Saloma Daucakacaka picked up the only photo of her husband, an ID card, you could almost feel her pain as she cried: “Isa watiqu,
isa watiqu (Oh my husband, oh my husband).”
Family members gathered at the home were consoling Ms Daucakacaka and her five children who were still in a state of shock. She described her husband as a humble and kind man.
“He had so many friends, especially Indo-Fijians. He used to play football and that’s how I came to know him, we have been married close to 20 years,” she said.
“He was a man with a big heart. He is also well known in Sawani.”
She said a night before the accident, she had asked her husband about the rental car he brought home.
She told him they could have used the money to buy more paint and roofing irons to renovate their home.
“But he never said anything. The next morning he kept hugging me and we were talking before I got up to cook for our church fundraising and he went on to drop our elder son at work and another son at a rugby match in Kasavu.
“I called him to get me a phone recharge and he said he would bring it. I was waiting for him to return home and drop me at church.
“I tried calling him again later that morning and the phone was just ringing. It just kept ringing but I didn’t know the phone was charging at a village close to us.” Ms Daucakacaka says it was around the time of trying to contact her husband that she heard an ambulance and police vehicle go past their home then she felt uneasy.
“I felt it was him. I kept calling someone at the village but no one answered.
“I kept saying it could be him,” she said.
A family member later delivered the heartbreaking news. Police Spokesperson Ana Naisoro confirmed the incident. She said the man from Sawani was travelling alone towards Vunidawa when his vehicle allegedly veered onto the opposite lane resulting in a head-on collision with a bus. She said a post-mortem will be conducted as investigations continue.