Later, echoing Rabuka's desire, the NFP told us that Fiji was NOT ready for an Indo-Fijian Prime Minister, setting in motion the overthrow of the People's Coalition government and the imprisonment of Mahendra Chaudhry as Prime Minister.*New Zealand legalised prostitution in brothels in 2003 and the capital city Wellington has made hay whilst the sun shines, currently offering several bordellos where you can pay for sex.Both, the Fiji and overseas media, have not revealed the rapist's link to Frank Bainimarama. We may recall that there was a plan to arrest Bainimarama in New Zealand shortly before his 5 December 2006 coup when he flew into Wellington for his granddaughter's christening. More on that arrest story by Victor Lal and Russell Hunter (below) that was published in the New Zealand Herald, which has also run the rape story.A former Army officer has been sentenced to four years in prison after raping a sex worker in Wellington. Savenaca Seruvatu was convicted of sexual violation by rape in the Wellington District Court in February, after removing a condom without consent during sexual intercourse in an adult entertainment club in Lower Hutt in September 2020. Seruvatu appeared in Wellington District Court, where Judge Ian Mill recounted the facts of the offending. Seravatu had made a booking at TK’s Parlour to meet with a sex worker. “[He] made enquiries about having sex without a condom and we heard evidence both from the receptionist and also from [the victim] about that,” the court was told. Judge Mill said Seruvatu offered the victim - a Wellington resident - $200 and a food grant to have sex without protection. “She declined and explained to [Seruvatu] that there could not be penetrative sex without a condom, and, in fact, it is illegal for her to do so.” The victim - who RNZ is calling Holly - said on trial that, during the sexual act, she "became aware that something was not right". "She put a hand down and felt the condom had been removed," the judge said. "Then she tensed herself and told [Seruvatu] several times to stop, but [he] continued to penetrate her for several minutes." In his defence during trial, Seruvatu said the condom must have come off accidentally. However, the jury did not accept that, with Holly later finding the condom under the pillow on the bed where they had been having sex. Judge Mill said the Court of Appeal referred to what had happened as a "deliberate, even cynical, breach of the parties' understanding of the basis on which consent was given". "So, there was a certain amount of premeditation in that case and in this case, Mr Seruvatu. You made enquiries. You were several times told what the rules were. "You tried to offer incentives and, therefore, you were wanting to have unprotected sex, and, in the end, you decided to go ahead with that. So, there was some planning and premeditation," the judge said in court. The judge said the impact on the victim was very significant and debilitating for her. "Then there are the risks of unprotected sex. She was essentially having sexual intercourse with a stranger and the risks are obvious and those are the things, of course, that have made it so traumatic for her." During the trial, Seruvatu's defence said he did not use force during the time that the condom was off and stopped when requested by the victim. Judge Mill disagreed. "The evidence of Holly was that when she became aware, she tensed her body in a way that would make it difficult for you to have intercourse with her and she told you to stop. "Not once, but several times, and that you continued and, of course, some force was needed to do that." This was not a case of withdrawn consent, the judge said. "It was a case that there never was consent to the act that constituted the rape. "I also take into account the aggravating features of mental health to the victim and also exposing her to the risks associated with unprotected sex." Starting again - victim In 2009, Savenaca Seruvatu, then an army officer, was found guilty of sending a series of lewd texts to a woman captain at a military trial at Wellington's Trentham Army Base. This time, his sentencing was reduced by 30 percent due to his service in the Fijian and the New Zealand Army, as well as his "distinguished contribution in the public health system". Judge Mill said: "I think you are entitled to what I consider a generous discount for your previous good character, and then again for your contribution to society, both in the armed forces and outside of that." Holly said the discount in the sentencing was discouraging. "For him to get a discount for his military time kind of made me sick to my stomach." She said the sentencing helped sent a message to other sex workers going through the same. "It's a huge win for the [sex workers] community. "For [the case] to actually go through court and for then to be a guilty verdict and then the sentence, I feel like it's actually really important. More sex workers should realise things like that shouldn't be a normality for us. Holly said the process has taken a toll on her mental health. "For the victim it doesn't really get any better, even after the sentencing, there's still quite a long journey for me to go and I am getting counselling, so hopefully that helps. "I'm still living every day with anxiety; I'm still trying to reattach myself to society. It's not an easy process but it is a necessary one." In her victim impact statement to court, Holly said she was trying to start anew. "I had a home, a new job and a new life - but as our first trial drew closer, I began to break again. I still struggled to use the words to describe it, and it was easier to call it an attack because they wouldn't pity me as much. I began to withdraw again, using whatever I could to hide in my body and spiral and want to give up on life. "I refused to leave my house, everywhere I looked I had flashbacks, and any hard work of coping strategies I developed has gone... These three years have been the longest and worst of my life, and I'm at the point of losing everything I have again. "I'm hoping from today you begin to be a memory that I work through and move past, and through getting justice, I gained some power back." 'A victory for the industry' - sex workers' collective Aotearoa New Zealand Sex Workers' Collective Wellington regional coordinator Cherida Fraser was Holly's first point of contact after the crime. "The worker involved came to me the day after it happened... and we liaised with our police liaison people to make sure she could speak to the police and report the crime," she said. She said the case opened space for other workers to report crimes without the fear of not being believed due to their job. "It's another powerful message to our sex work community that they are believed, that they do have access to justice and that they can get justice. "I think there may be a perception out there that sex workers won't report or won't seek justice due to stigma, and I think sometimes the stigma of sex work continues to be exploited by people who don't think sex workers will report." The sentencing sent a message to sex workers that they have access to justice like anybody else when these violations of consent happen, Fraser said. "There's a lot of sexual violence that doesn't get through the justice system because it's very difficult for anybody who's the victim of sexual violence to speak about it. "For sex workers, the stigma can be a barrier but that doesn't mean you should come forward. In this case, justice has been served." Source: RNZ, New Zealand Herald. Fiji's chief of police made a private call to his New Zealand counterpart urging him to arrest Commodore Frank Bainimarama a few weeks before the military leader seized power in a coup in December 2006. It was reported at the time that a request had been made through Interpol and rejected by the New Zealand Government but only now can details from behind the scenes be [re]vealed. In November 2006 then Police Commissioner Howard Broad took the call from his Fiji counterpart Andrew Hughes, an Australian, who wanted to know if Commodore Bainimarama had committed any offence under New Zealand law for which he could be arrested. Teams of police officers from both forces worked over a weekend and agreed the future dictator could be charged in New Zealand with perverting the course of justice in a foreign jurisdiction. The planned charge related to remarks made by Commodore Bainimarama in New Zealand regarding an investigation into his alleged sedition in Fiji. Mr Hughes sent two senior officers - an assistant commissioner and a senior detective - to New Zealand to liaise in the planned arrest. "Then Howard Broad had a change of heart," said Mr Hughes. "He said New Zealand Foreign Affairs preferred a political solution. "I argued it was his decision as Police Commissioner as to who should be charged in New Zealand." At the time Commodore Bainimarama was in New Zealand for his granddaughter's christening and the Foreign Minister at the time, Winston Peters, had taken the opportunity to broker talks between him and elected Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase aimed at diverting Fiji's lurch towards a military takeover. A day later, Mr Hughes received a call from Mr Broad. "He sought my assurance that no NZ citizen would be endangered in Fiji as result of an arrest," said Mr Hughes. "Of course I would do all in my power to protect all the people in Fiji but a blanket assurance of that kind was not possible. It would be like me asking him for a similar assurance covering all Fiji people in New Zealand. It wasn't possible to give him that. "In the end, Mr Broad told me, 'Well, we're not going to arrest him."' Mr Broad, now retired, told the Weekend Herald yesterday in a written statement that he remembered the call well. "I remember it as a highly unusual request to consider an allegation against the Chief of Defence Force of a neighbouring country's properly constituted Government. "I remember giving this decision a lot of consideration because it contained complex operational, legal and policy issues. I made the decision but I took a lot of advice. I remain comfortable with it." He said some aspects of Mr Hughes' explanation did not accord with his recollection but he did not specify what they were. In Suva, the Fiji police force had been awaiting an opportunity to arrest the commodore on the sedition charge but were unable to penetrate his heavily armed personal security detail - rarely less than 12-strong at any given time. "I had earlier taken a brief of evidence to the DPP," said Mr Hughes, "and it was agreed that there was a case to answer on a sedition charge. "We wanted to arrest and charge Commodore Bainimarama but he was permanently covered by heavy security. I was very keen to avoid an armed confrontation between the police and the military. So we waited." As Prime Minister Qarase waited at Suva's Nausori airport to board a New Zealand Air Force VIP jet to take him to the Peters-brokered talks in Wellington, he was surprised to be joined by Mr Hughes, who then explained that the arrest plan was unlikely to come to fruition. Mr Qarase was shocked. The Fiji Police Commissioner boarded the flight and in Wellington he met a deputy secretary for foreign affairs but was again told the New Zealand Government's position was that a political or diplomatic solution was preferred. Aware that the police were ready to arrest him in Suva, Commodore Bainimarama had made it one of his many conditions for any settlement that the police commissioner would have to go. Mr Hughes had, a week previously, sent his wife and sons to Australia having received credible information that they could be targeted by a military snatch squad. In Wellington, he sought consular advice which was that he should not return to Fiji. He never did. Mr Hughes also considered the safety of his own loyal officers who would try to protect him from military arrest. The 2006 coup was the commodore's fourth attempt. In 2000 during the negotiations that ended the Speight hostage crisis he suggested that the military should run the country for up to 50 years but Speight - and the president - would have none of it. In 2004 and again in 2005 he planned to take over the Government but his senior officers refused to commit treason. All were sacked. By December 2006 it was now or never for Commodore Bainimarama. It was widely agreed amongst informed observers of the events of 2006 in Fiji, including the diplomatic community, that without Commodore Bainimarama the RFMF would be rudderless. Had Commodore Bainimarama been arrested in New Zealand the Fiji military would have been unable and unwilling to proceed with the removal of the Qarase Government. The then US ambassador to Fiji, Larry Dinger, summed it up when he told his masters in Washington in a cable leaked by WikiLeaks regarding the New Zealand arrest plan. "Being passive with bullies only encourages them. An arrest abroad might be the only way to enforce a criminal charge and remove the Bainimarama thorn," he reported. Labour's foreign affairs spokesman Phil Goff, who did not deal with the issue, could not confirm Mr Hughes' account. However, he could understand why no arrest was made, saying such a course of action would mean a country lost its credibility as a mediator for dealing with crises. "I scarcely think you were going to lure a person here under false pretences only to arrest him. That would be seen as an ambush and bad faith and it wouldn't have resolved the situation within Fiji. " Fijileaks Founding Editor-in-Chief: We have on us scores of highly confidential files that were leaked to us from inside the RFMF High Command and the Laisenia Qarase government as dictator Frank Bainimarama began threatening to stage his 5 December 2006 Coup. |
*Thankfully, 'Wild Goose' ended up laying the 'Golden Egg' with Lautoka Family Court disclosing that it was not you but your female client who had filed the divorce papers via post from California. | Mikaele Lewaicei, the former RFMF soldier |
*The Minister for Justice claims that the complainant [Lewaicei] was never at any point his client and stresses that the role of journalists is to publish fair, balanced and accurate news articles.
Fijileaks: Where in its story did Fiji Sun claim that Lewaicei was your client?
The COUPLE who live in Sacramento, California, obtained a marriage license from their State but travelled to adjoining suburb of Penryn to get married in the Hope Lutheran Church. How did they obtain the marriage license when both were still married, and did not have nisi decrees on them. Unless they were provided fake nisi decrees from someone in Fiji
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