5 Year Jail Term for Knife Mayhem at Resort

A woman was transferred to CWM Hospital from Savusavu District hospital after she was beaten with a knife blade sustaining injuries from her ex de facto partner Oliver Whippy.

Whippy attacked the woman at the Koro Sun Resort, where she works, brandishing a cane knife on the morning of August 25, 2018, after days of phone threats and harassment.

Whippy was found guilty after trial on the charge of one count of causing grievous harm and pleaded guilty on his own plea of two counts of criminal intimidation.

Telling her he was going to kill her, Whippy wielded a blow with the knife towards her neck, a blow that she fended off with her hand resulting in the grievous harm to her hand, that needed subsequent surgery at CWM Hospital.

Whippy dragged the woman from her office through the grounds of the resort beating her with the blade of the knife and uttering threats of murder. Her colleagues filmed the ongoing attack.

Police arrived at the scene, however Whippy threatened to kill the woman if they came anywhere near him.

The Police were able to defuse the situation and Whippy surrendered himself and the knife.

Whippy was sentenced to five years imprisonment at the High Court in Labasa on April 17 by Justice Paul Madigan.

Whippy is to serve a minimum of four years imprisonment before being eligible for parole.

He is 37 years old and until his arrest was a farmer at Wainunu in Bua. He has two daughters, including an 18-month-old, from his relationship with the woman.

“There is serious aggravation to this offence in that the continuous assault took part in a well-known Vanua Levu tourist resort, where tourists could well have been alarmed by witnessing mayhem in what they would have expected to be a peaceful welcoming Fijian resort,” Justice Madigan said.

He added that any crime that would impact on tourist perception of the hidden paradise must be regarded with great severity.

Edited by Epineri Vula

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