The family of a man who died in custody at the Savusavu Police Station is demanding answers over the circumstances surrounding his death.
Marika Radua, a farmer of Naviavia Village in Cakaudrove, was allegedly found dead in a Savusavu Police Station cell on Tuesday.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Savusavu Hospital.
Radua’s aunt Unaisi Solaila said her nephew was alive and well when he was picked up from their home by police officers.
“He was picked up in the morning. At 1pm I received the news that he had died,” she said.
She claimed that Radua was placed in a cell with another person who was known to be suffering from mental illness and that a relative who was also in custody at the police station had heard Radua calling for help from his cell.
Ms Solaila said wounds and blood were found on Radua’s body when a close relative saw him at the hospital.
“They carried him dead to the vehicle,” she claimed, adding that family members who went to see his body in the hospital could not recognise him.
“We want to know what happened in the cell as according to a relative he was taken dead to the hospital.”
On Tuesday, Acting Commissioner of Police Juki Fong Chew said he had directed officers of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to investigate the cause of death.
In response to questions from this newspaper about the family’s allegations of what had transpired while Radua was in the cell, police said they would be in a better position to release more information once CID had conducted its investigation.
“As stated by the Acting Commissioner, a team from CID headquarters would be looking into the criminal element and the actions taken that led to the incident.”
