CHANDRA Kishore heard his neighbour’s cries for help and immediately ran to his aid.
He found neighbour Nazim, whom he knew little about, in his back yard, “his face and hands burnt”.
Mr Kishore said he saw Nazim burning something, but did not know what it was because he was more concerned about taking him to the hospital.
When a team from this newspaper met him at Yalalevu in Ba yesterday afternoon, he was still reeling from news that the “something” was what police have alleged to be the dismembered body of Nazim’s de facto partner.
“I was working out in my garden at around midday Monday when I heard him scream for help,” Mr Kishore said.
“He was burnt and asking for my help so I put him in my van and took him to the hospital.”
He said once at the hospital, medical staff took injured Nazim in.
“That was the last time I saw him.”
It was not until some 24 hours later that Mr Kishore learned that the body of Nazim’s partner had been found in plastic bags inside their home.
“I was shocked,” he said.
“I didn’t think that he was capable of doing something like that.
He said the couple had been renting in the large double storey house, but were hardly at home.
“They always kept to themselves and I hardly knew anything about them.”
Another neighbour Sahis Lata said she did not know much about the couple.
“We didn’t interact much,” she said.
“I did inform the police that on Saturday night I had heard the sound of someone chopping something in their house.
“It was around 9pm and I thought it was unusual, but I did not think much of it.”
Yesterday, police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro said the 32-year-old suspect was allegedly trying to burn the victim’s body.
She said the incident was alleged to have occurred between Saturday and Tuesday following a domestic dispute.
“The incident was reported to police by a friend of the suspect, who he had allegedly asked to help dispose of the victim’s remains,” she said.
“The suspect sustained burns when he was allegedly trying to burn the victim’s body.”
She said investigations were continuing.