Police Commissioner Investigates Victims

Issue No: 616 22 March 2001

Police Commissioner Isikia Savua has continued to blame the victims of violence for their fate.

Over the past week two major cases of violence and police negligence have been reported by the media.

In one case, a woman was assaulted by police officers interrogating her for theft, resulting in the woman miscarrying. The woman claims that the police punched her in her stomach despite her telling them that she was pregnant.

Yesterday on Fiji TV, Savua denied that the woman was pregnant and that she miscarried. He relied on a medical report which stated that in the absence of an urine test, the doctor could not ascertain that the woman was pregnant. She miscarried in her third month of pregnancy.

In another incident, Savua stated that the police were investigating a small Nasinu businessman for him being beaten and knifed by thugs on Monday evening. The businessman claimed that when he saw over 6 armed thugs entering his compound and trying to break his security grills, he called the nearest police station where the police asked him to call another station. When he called another station, he was told that the police were on their way. He then called his relatives who lived further away from the station. The relatives drove to a police post where the police again informed them that they were on their way. The relatives then went to the aid of the businessman and after a violent struggle managed to rescue him as the thugs were dragging him out of his house.

Yesterday Savua reacted angrily at the suggestion that the police were negligent. He claimed that this was not the first time the businessman was bashed by thugs and that police were now investigating him on why he called his relatives.

The businessman has claimed that he has lost all confidence in the Police.

Meanwhile a prominent Suva lawyer, Richard Naidu stated in a closeup TV program on Sunday that the collapse of people's confidence in the police force and generally in law and order is having a great toll on the nation. People no longer report crime because such reports are to no use, he stated.

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