Sami Gets Life Sentence For Murder Of Brother

Early prevention of domestic violence can stop repetition of violence and unfortunate events such as loss of a life.

High Court Judge, Justice Ranga­jeeva Wimalasena, made the state­ment while sentencing 46-year-old Shalendra Krishna Sami for one count of murder.

Sami was sentenced to manda­tory life imprisonment for the of­fence of murder with a non-parole period of 12 years to be served be­fore pardon may be considered.

On April 16, 2015 at Lautoka, Sami murdered his brother Chan­dra Baskaran.

On the day of the incident, Sami had a fight with his deceased brother. Sami was alone at home with his deceased brother.

Sami sustained injuries in one of his fingers as a result of the fight.

Later the deceased brought a kitchen knife and Sami started struggling with him. During the struggle, Sami pushed the de­ceased’s hand so hard and the knife struck the deceased’s neck.

Having seen the knife strike the deceased’s neck, Sami pushed the knife further into his brother’s neck which resulted in the de­ceased falling on the floor.

Sami once again stabbed the de­ceased on his back.

According to the medical report, Sami caused two independently fa­tal wounds on the deceased result­ing in instant death.

Sami later confessed to his moth­er.

Justice Wimalasena said: “This is an unfortunate example of how inaction and tolerance for domes­tic violence could ultimately esca­late into homicide.

“Domestic violence of any nature or any degree must be nipped in the bud and it is the duty of family members as well as the members of society to report incidents of domestic violence to authorities.

“The failure to resort to proper remedies to prevent violence at home has cost the life of a father of two young children,” Justice Wimalasena said.

Sami was given 30 days to appeal to the Fiji Court of Appeal.

Edited by Percy Kean

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