A Fiji Corrections Service officer with nine children has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for knocking his wife unconscious with a timber plank.
The 39-year-old pleaded guilty to a count of assault before Magistrate Shageeth Somaratne in the Suva Magistrate’s Court last week.
Court records show that on May 22 this year, the man confronted his wife at the Ace Night Club in Suva and punched her on the chin. She managed to escape and returned home with police assistance.
However, in the early hours of the morning of the next day the officer attacked her again using a 4×2 piece of timber, striking her face, back, and forehead which knocked her unconscious.
During trial the court was told this was not the man’s first court appearance; in 2018, he had been convicted of assaulting a previous partner.
Due to financial hardships his family might face, Mr Somaratne partly suspended the sentence. The officer was ordered to serve an immediate six-month prison term, with the remaining four months suspended for a period of three years.
A Domestic Violence Restraining Order was issued, including standard non-molestation conditions.
