“Is she dead or alive?”
That was the first question Minister for Defence and Veteran Affairs Pio Tikoduadua asked when two senior police officers arrived at his home to inform him that his daughter had been seriously injured while on duty.
Mr Tikoduadua’s daughter was working at the Laqere checkpoint in the early hours of April 25, when a vehicle allegedly failed to stop, led police on a high speed car chase and later rammed into her. The incident left her critically injured and hospitalised.
Mr Tikoduadua said he was informed of the incident at about 6am on a Saturday, when his niece told him two police officers were at the door.
He said he immediately recognised one of them as the assistant commissioner of police operations. The other officer, he said, was the commanding officer of the Police Mobile Force.
“They said there was an incident last night at the Laqere checkpoint and, unfortunately, your daughter was seriously injured,” he said.
“I said, ‘Is she dead or alive?’ he said, “She’s seriously injured.
“I asked, ‘Where is she right now?’
“‘They’ve taken her to the hospital.’
“I said, ‘I’ll get changed and then I’ll come.’”
Mr Tikoduadua said that, from his own experience in the military, senior officers arriving at someone’s home early in the morning usually meant the family was about to receive bad news.
That was why his first question was whether his daughter was dead or alive.
At the hospital, he said the sight of his daughter lying almost motionless made him fear the worst. He said he initially thought she had died when he saw her on the X-ray table. However, he said her current condition had given the family hope.
Asked whether he would be comfortable with his daughter returning to duty, Mr Tikoduadua said that decision would be left to her.
“It’s not up to me anymore. She’s in a state where she can make decisions for herself.”
