DHARMEN Chandra was at the Nadi Police Station in early January 1994 when a report was lodged about a man being found dead.

A team of police detectives, including him, was sent to Wailoaloa Beach in Nadi to investigate the discovery.

The officers later identified the dead man as Mohammad Faiyaz, 19, a carrier driver of Nadi, who had left his home on January 5 to earn some money.

On January 7, 1994, we reported that Mr Faiyaz was found dead near the Wailoaloa jetty by two joggers about 6am the previous day.

Police classified the case as murder and the search was on for the suspect or suspects.

Sergeant Petero Qereqeretabua, who is now retired, was the initial investigating officer of the case, but the investigations were handed to Mr Chandra after one week by the then Western deputy divisional crime officer Superintendent of Police Selva Rajan Naicker.

Mr Chandra said after taking over the investigations, he worked closely with his team of detectives in trying to reach out to the public for any information that could lead to the arrest of the killer or killers.

“It was almost five weeks of investigations, almost round-the-clock by me and former corporal Imtiaz Mohammed, who now resides in Australia, that an information came to hand,” he said.

“The identity of one of the accused was revealed to us by the informant.

“It was a Wednesday in March 1994 around 2.15pm. I was in the crime office since I was on crime standby when the informant called on the police station’s landline and informed me that the suspect, whose identity was revealed to us, was sitting at the Nadi bus stand waiting for a bus bound for Suva.

“Upon getting this tip off, I located Corporal Imtiaz Mohammed and informed him about the same. We headed to the Nadi bus stand where we located the suspect and escorted him to the crime office at Nadi Police Station.

“On verbal interrogation, he revealed the names of three other accused persons, who were subsequently arrested and interrogated,” said Mr Chandra.

The four accused persons, who were teenagers then, were interviewed separately by different police officers at Nadi Police Station.

It was during the investigations that police found out the actual motive of the murder.

Among the four accused persons was the son of a former police officer, who was the first accused and was interrogated by Mr Chandra.

Mr Chandra said according to the first accused, he had a girlfriend who resided at Clopcott St in Ba, whom he had met at Korociri in Nadi during the school holidays in December 1993.

He said the girl left for Ba after a few weeks. He said according to the first accused, he decided to see the girl in Ba after a few weeks.

“Since the accused was unemployed at that time, he did not have money to travel to Ba,” he said.

“The first accused knew the other three accused persons as they were good friends.

“At about 5pm on that particular day (January 5), they met in Nadi Town and decided to drink some beer. They bought six bottles of beer at a hotel’s bottle shop and went to a cane farm behind the Nadi Police Station and drank there.

“While drinking beer, the first accused suggested to the other three that he had a contact in Ba who was buying stolen vehicles and paying good money.

“The four decided that they would try to hire a carrier, ask the driver to drop them at Wailoaloa Beach where they will beat up the driver and take the vehicle. That was their plan.”

Mr Chandra said the four accused then walked around in Nadi Town until about 10pm when they hired a closed van driven by a Fijian of Indian descent.

He said they told the driver to take them to Wailoaloa Beach to pick up a friend who was there with his girlfriend.

“They drove to Wailoaloa Beach and got off, asking the driver to wait while they were going to call their friend.

“While outside the van, they decided that the driver looks to be a big guy and they would not be able to beat him up and take the van.

“They then returned to the van and told the driver to drop them at the Martintar junction. They got off near a restaurant and sat by the roadside kerb.”

Mr Chandra said while sitting on the roadside, the accused persons saw Mr Faiyaz driving his carrier towards Lautoka and they tried to flag him down.

But, he said, Mr Faiyaz signalled to them that he would come back after dropping a job.

He said the four accused persons knew Mr Faiyaz for some time.

“They decided to ask him to take them to Wailoaloa Beach, beat him up and take the carrier.

“The deceased picked the four accused from Martintar at about 1am and drove them to Wailoaloa Beach, where they strangled him with the fourth accused person’s leather belt, dragged him into the sea and dipped his head into the water for some time until he was motionless.

“They decided to kill the deceased because he knew them and if he was left alive, then he would report to police and they would have been arrested. They left the deceased in the sea.”

Mr Chandra said prior to killing Mr Faiyaz, they had robbed him of $29, his wristwatch and the key to his carrier.

* NEXT WEEK: The moments after the murder.