Woman Slashed by Weeding Knife
Awoman yesterday described how a man attacked a friend in their home. He allegedly barged in through the backdoor and struck the guest repeatedly with a weeding knife before fleeing.
The victim is in a stable condition in the trauma ward at Lautoka Hospital.
She is said to be 50 years old. The incident happened at Tauvegavega, a community in the Ba cane belt.
Also admitted to Ba Mission Hospital is the suspect, who Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro confirmed fled the scene and later tried to take his own life. The victim, according to the eyewitness, is not married to the suspect, adding that “the two have been living together”.
The suspect is said to have evicted the victim following a domestic quarrel on Friday evening. They lived not far from where the incident took place.
The eyewitness, 23, who holds a stable job as an administration officer in Ba town, asked not to be identified.
When the Fiji Sun team visited the scene yesterday, the eyewitness was still visibly shaken as she attempted to relive the horror she encountered 24 hours earlier.
She was with the victim in the kitchen after taking a break from attending to her sickly father. “We are a Christian family. We welcome people who enter our house to seek refuge,’’ the eyewitness said. She said the victim had moved in four days earlier. Her own mother had gone into Ba town with her sibling, a seven-year-old boy who suffers from a condition which qualifies him to attend a special school for children in Ba.
“She (the victim) and I were in kitchen. She had just returned from somewhere she had been the night before. She then announced that she had quarrelled with her partner the night before,’’ the eyewitness said. “When I turned around, I saw the suspect entering with a knife in hand. He brought some juice and biscuits. Like a peace offering.
“She asked me to check him, and ask what he had come to do. “I took my eyes away from her just for a second.
“It happened so fast. I couldn’t do anything. I just stood there too terrified to scream.
“And, just like that he ran off. “She lay in a pool of blood. “I was horrified. I was shaking. I have never experienced this before.”
The victim was struck in the face, neck and back, she said. The eyewitness said she was still in a state of shock.
Still shaky and terrified, the eyewitness then telephoned her mother. Police were then notified after which her mother was allowed to rush her to the Ba Mission Hospital.
The vicim was later transferred to Lautoka Hospital.
Ms Naisoro said: “A 53-year-old man is admitted under observation at the Ba Mission Hospital after he allegedly tried to take his own life after injuring his wife.
“The suspect is alleged to have struck his 50-year-old wife with a cane knife several times and later fled the scene where it is alleged he also tried to take his own life.” Another neighbour who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to the Fiji Sun, witnessed the man retuning to his home after the alleged incident. She saw him outside his home drinking from a bottle.
“We never really knew them well, but he came home that day sat outside his home and was drinking from the bottle. We then took him directly to hospital,” the neighbour said after realising that he was not well.
Police investigations are continuing. Edited by George Kulamaiwasa