Father charged for murder of baby

The 32 year old father of Lekutu, Bua, who allegedly murdered his 14 month old baby over the weekend has been charged with one count of murder.

The father will appear in the Labasa Magistrate’s Court today.

Police yesterday received the post mortem report of the 14 month old baby which revealed that she had sustained severe head injuries after she was allegedly punched several times on her head.

Meanwhile, it was earlier stated that the father had an argument with Assemblies of God pastor Saula Teqe last week before he committed the crime on Saturday.

Pastor Teqe confirmed to Fijivillage that he had an argument with the accused, but refused to comment further since he has already given his statement to the police.  

Fijivillage has been reliably informed that the main reason behind the argument is the accused did not want Pastor Teqe to wear a reading glass because he believed it was possessed by an evil spirit.

Lekutu villagers told Fijivillage that the accused comes from a good family background and was fasting last week.

According to police, the mother, a 29 year old school teacher, was breastfeeding the baby at 3.30 in the morning, when the baby's father allegedly assaulted the baby saying that she was possessed by an evil spirit.

He allegedly assaulted the baby till her last breath.