Cold Case: Distraught Father Hopes to Get Answers For Daughter’s Murder

He has been having sleepless nights for more than four months and he also lives in fear.

The only reason for this is that no one has been charged yet by the Police for his daughter’s murder a few days before Christmas last year.

Rakeshwar Prasad Singh says life has not been easy for him, his eldest daughter and son since the incident.

His daughter, Rayna Rikashni Prasad’s partly burnt body was found at Muanikau in Suva in the early morning of December 24.

The 22-year-old student of the University of the South Pacific was reported missing at Valelevu Police Station by her father on the night of December 22.

Mr Singh, who is a taxi driver, said he struggled to look after his three children after the death of their mother eight years ago.

His story

While recalling things, Mr Singh said he had dinner with Rayna on December 21 and planned what to cook for Christmas.

“I left home between 8.30am and 9am on Saturday (December 22) to drive taxi. I woke her up before leaving and told her to close the door,” he said.

“She closed the door and my son left for work after some time. Rayna was alone at home.

“I called her phone a few times after I left but it was switched off. I wanted to tell her to take the lamb out of the fridge to defrost.

“I called my eldest daughter and told her to call Rayna as I couldn’t get through to her but she also found that her phone was switched off.”

Mr Singh said he went home at about 1:45pm and saw the door of his house open, something that was unusual.

He said he tooted the vehicle horn and also called out Rayna’s name but after not getting any response he got off the taxi and went to check.

“Normally she would come outside whenever I returned home but she did not on that particular day,” he said.

“I checked inside the house but she wasn’t there. Her money was inside. It wasn’t that much. She had told me that she wouldn’t go to town. Our neighbour said she saw Rayna sitting on the porch and then saw her going towards the shop which is about 50 metres away from our house.

“The thought that came to my mind was that she could be involved with someone and she had gone somewhere. But her clothes were in the house.”

Mr Singh said after looking around the area, he mixed a basin of grog and waited, thinking that Rayna would return home soon.

He said he went to Valelevu Police Station at about 7:30pm and reported that Rayna was missing from home.

“I kept calling her phone in the weekend but it was switched off. I had also informed my relatives that Rayna was missing from home. At about 2pm on Monday (December 24), I got a call from a Police officer at the Totogo Police Station and he asked me if my daughter was missing.

“I thought she had been found but the Police officer told me that they had discovered a woman’s body that morning and asked if I could just have a look at it.”

Fearing the worst

Mr Singh said he feared the worst when the Police officer told him that and he went to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital mortuary.

“I saw the body and her face was burnt. It seemed like someone had thrown acid. Her legs below the knees were also burnt.

“The clothes on the body looked like Rayna’s. I identified it as her body because of the red cotton thread that was tied around her right wrist by a priest after some prayers.

“Her body had started decomposing and it seems that she was killed and thrown at the spot in Muanikau on the same day she went missing from home.

“I was told by the Police that her phone was found near her. I went to the scene later and saw tyre marks there, so it appears that her body was dumped there.”

Mr Singh said a man was questioned by the Police and later released.

Some other information which he revealed to Fiji Sun about the man and why he was taken in by Police cannot be published as investigations are still being carried out.

The distraught father believes that the man is the main suspect in his daughter’s murder.

“The post mortem stated the cause of death as unknown, maybe because the body had started to decompose,” he said.

Mr Singh said Rayna would have graduated with a Bachelor in Education last month, something which they all were looking forward to.

“I dreamt of her only once. It was three weeks after her death and I saw her in the mortuary. I asked her who killed her and she only pointed towards someone’s house in my neighbourhood and I woke up suddenly.

“She was my favourite and I had a lot of hope on her. Life is not the same without her and I’m unable to sleep properly at night.

“Why I’m unable to sleep properly is because my daughter was murdered and her killer has not been caught and charged by the Police. And what if whoever killed her burns my house while I’m sleeping inside at night with my son. I can’t sleep properly and I live in fear.”

Police

Mr Singh said he has been calling Police officers involved in the investigation every week to get updates but there has not been anything positive from them yet.

Police spokesperson Ana Naisoro said investigations were continuing.

Edited by Susana Tuilau

Feedback:  avinesh.gopal@fijisun.com.fj