One nonth pregnant mother died

A taxi driver, 47, is in police custody, suspected of causing the death of his defactor partner. Dead is Karishma Chaudhry, 28, a mother of four. She was also one month pregnant. The alleged incident happened at Kerebula, Nadi and with visible injuries to Ms Chaudhry’s neck.

Victim’s mother Nileshma Singh, 47, said, the family was alerted by neighbours. “This is my eldest daughter, she was my pillar of strength,” she said. Ms Singh said her daughter and the suspect lived together for a decade and since the past two years there had been family problems.

“I groomed her to be a great mother. We did not expect this to be her end. It is so sad,” she said. “They have been living together for 10 years. I was expecting my fifth grandchild, but that dream also shattered. She used to take on any task and was a very caring mother,” she said. She said her three grandchildren witnessed the horror incident. Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro said the incident happened about 8am. 

“The neighbour reported the matter to Police. The suspect was later arrested by police for questioning,” Ms Naisoro said. Fiji Women Crisis Centre director Shamima Ali said, “This is so tragic and we must as a society condemn such acts of violence and stop making excuses for men’s violence against women and girls.” She said Fiji needed strong leadership at all levels of society, especially the national level. “I am sick of listening to mealy mouthed platitudes. Government needs to provide money for services, so we don’t need to depend on donors. That will show how seriously Government is taking this issue and how committed it is to prevention and service delivery,” said Ms Ali.

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