Brutal murder

NARIA – A Fijian teenage high school student was viciously hacked to death by a sugarcane cutter at Naria, Rakiraki, this week.

Ravi Deo, a neighbour who lived near the victim, said people ran to the scene when the girl began screaming as she was attacked.

“We are all in shock here because it is the first time that anything like this has ever happened and also because we know this girl very well,” said Deo, a canefarmer in Naria.

“The girl is a Year 10 student at Penang Sangam High School.

“She had just gotten off the bus and the bus had gone when the canecutter approached her from behind and began attacking her with a cane knife.

“Her father was coming to where the school bus had dropped her off when he saw what was happening. He walks her home from the bus stop every afternoon because they live a bit of a distance from the main road.

“By the time he got to his daughter to try to save her, the cane cutter attacked him too.

Deo said the student was well-known and liked in the community.

“She was a very quiet girl and a nice girl, she always listened to her elders and especially to her father.”

“The way that she screamed when she was attacked, I don’t think anyone will ever forget that sound.”

He added that the scene where the attack happened was awash with blood from the attack.

Police spokesperson Inspector Atunaisa Sokomuri confirmed that the student died at the scene and her father was admitted in a serious condition to hospital.

A 36-year-old man alleged to have hacked to death the 15-year-old girl has been arrested by police after being on the run for several hours.