Luke Nasetava

The Fiji Women’s Rights Movement strongly supports the move to appeal the decision of the High Court in Luke Nasetava’s case.

This comes as the Director of Public Prosecutions filed an appeal against the decision of the High Court on December 20th, 2021 to acquit Luke Nasetava of the murder of his wife.

The High Court acquitted Luke Nasetava of the murder and instead found him guilty of a lesser offense of manslaughter.

Nasetava was sentenced last Friday to nine years.

Director Public Prosecutions, Christopher Pryde says that allowing a man to have a murder charge reduced to manslaughter by claiming that he was provoked into killing his wife by her alleged infidelity is wrong in law and reflects an outdated view of gender roles in modern Fijian society.

The Fijian Women’s Rights Movement stated that the horrific and brutal killing of Fijian women in intimate partner violence is unacceptable and inexcusable.

It adds that no one has the right to harm, violate, assault, or in this case, brutally murder a woman in her home, workplace, or anywhere just because he feels provoked.

According to a 2017 FWRM study, 64 percent of women in Fiji experience intimate partner violence, and it takes women over 2.5 years to report their issues of violence.

The report also reveals that within this period, women would still be suffering from violence before eventually seeking assistance.

The NGO claimed that blame-shifting and minimising the severity of domestic violence is one of the fundamental reasons why Fiji has among the highest rates of domestic violence globally and this needs to stop.

FWRM is hopeful that in this case as well, justice will be served.