The Fiji Corrections Service has confirmed that an investigation is underway after a woman alleged that her husband was assaulted by inmates during a live video call made from inside the Suva Remand Centre.
A 32-year-old woman says she fears for her family’s safety after receiving threatening phone and video calls from within the facility, while her 45-year-old husband was allegedly assaulted by three inmates—one of whom held the phone during the attack.
Speaking to fijivillage News, she says the incident occurred on Friday between 4pm and 4.30pm, when she began receiving calls that initially appeared normal but soon escalated into demands for money and threats via video calls.
She says during the first video call, she was told to send money urgently, with the callers claiming there was a lockdown approaching.
Fearing for her husband’s life, she drove out and sent $100 via M-PAiSA.
She says after the transfer, the callers demanded more money, but she had no additional funds.
The woman then went directly to the remand centre to report the matter.
She says officers were shocked when she showed them the live video call and screenshots, especially as the call was coming from inside the facility.
She says officers checked on her husband and found him with a swollen eye, a black eye, and two cuts on his eyebrow.
She says officers assured her that her husband would be placed in the infirmary and would be completely safe.
However, she says she remains deeply concerned, as there has been no communication from inside since she blocked the threatening numbers, and she is unsure of her husband’s current safety.
The woman alleges that her husband later told her he was punched, kicked in the chest and sides, tortured, and had his eyes poked, while one of the attackers allegedly attempted to stab him in the back with a sharpened toothbrush.
She says Police later confirmed that a sharpened toothbrush was recovered, though her husband managed to prevent it from causing injury.
The woman says the attack happened while her husband was having dinner, when four men surrounded him, with three carrying out the assault.
She claims the attackers were aware that her husband was a businessman and used two mobile phones inside the remand centre—one for calls and another for video threats.
She says she sent money on only two occasions, once for legal fees and once during the threats, after being told that $150 was needed to save her husband, which he later told her was not true.
She alleges that when officers first checked on her husband, he remained in the same cell block, just moved in with inmates from a different cell, raising concerns about the effectiveness of safety measures.
The woman says her husband was taken to hospital the following day between 10pm and 11pm, and she verified his admission, staying until 1am before he was returned to custody.
She says her husband had only two days left in remand at the time of the incident.
She says if she had not gone to the remand centre that day, she believes her husband could have lost his life.
We have also sent questions to police.
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