Akanisi Vula [left] with her late dad 68-year-old Mesake Rikalevu [right]

Namosi based Wainimakutu Secondary School teacher Akanisi Vula says coming home will not be the same anymore.

Vula is the daughter of 68-year-old Mesake Rikalevu, who died on Friday after being allegedly assaulted by an intoxicated man in Cunningham, Nasinu.

Vula says she received the most unexpected call of her father’s passing at around 2 pm on Friday.

She says the news became more unbearable when she learned that his death was not due to illness or natural causes, but the result of an alleged assault.

“You know the distance that was there. I only wish it was a ten-minute ride just for me to come and see him, just to say my last goodbye, but I couldn’t because of the distance.”

Vula says her late father has around 23 grandchildren, all of whom he highly favored.

“Last Palm Sunday was the very worst Palm Sunday for us since he has a lot of grandkids, and it was normal for us to see him every now and then, but we thank God for a very wonderful father.”

She adds that this is undoubtedly the most painful moment for the family, one that cries out for justice.

“I believe no one wants his or her mother or father to go through this kind of death. It is so tragic. If he is sick, it will be accepted, but this kind of tragic death is so heart-aching, so painful.”

With most of Rikalevu’s seven children now living their separate lives, Vula says returning home will never be the same.

The police investigation into the matter continues.