JOHN Scott was born in Fiji in 1948.
He was educated in Fiji and New Zealand and held a number of prominent public positions for various national, regional and international councils and programs.
Mr Scott became the director general of the Fiji Red Cross Society in 1994 and he played a unique role when a group stormed the Fijian Parliament in 2000 and took the then Prime Minister and his government hostage for 56 days.
He negotiated daily visits to the hostages, where he delivered family messages, food, medicine and clean clothes to the captives.
He also played a crucial part in their release.
When the leaders of the coup were arrested two months later, Mr Scott also visited them.
The Fiji Red Cross Society’s involvement in the hostage crisis earned Mr Scott and the society immense respect in the Pacific region and throughout the world.
However, on July 1, 2001, almost one year after the hostage crisis, Fiji and the world were shocked when Mr Scott’s body was discovered in his house in Suva.
Apart from his body, that of his partner Gregory Scrivener was also found in the house — both had been brutally murdered.
The then police commissioner Isikia Savua had said at the initial stages of investigations that it could be a case of a domestic dispute.
But pressure from all corners forced the police to carry out a detailed investigation, as someone had reportedly seen a person walking away from the house.
Ravi Narayan was a Senior Superintendent of Police and the divisional crime officer Southern at that time.
He later went up the ranks to become the Director of Criminal Investigations Department and the acting Commissioner of Police last year.
“When the report of the discovery of two bodies was received on July 1, 2001, as usual I got together all the resources, keeping in mind the background of one of the victims,” said Mr Narayan.
“It was a very complex, complicated and highly publicised case because of his background and we carried out a full time investigation.
“We didn’t want to rush the investigations. We wanted to detect the case with sufficient evidence as it was a high profile case.
“As the DCO Southern, it was my task to guide my team of detectives in carrying out investigations and solving the case.”
Mr Narayan said apart from the pressure from his senior officers, he also had to deal with the local and international media personnel who continuously called for updates on the investigation.
He said he had to speak to the local and international media and also deal with the problems of police detectives on the ground.
“The case was forensic-based. It was more inclined towards forensic evidence.
“I even had some conflicts, arguments, with my senior officers at that time because of the difference in opinions on the case.
“There was a lot of speculation on what could have happened but my team had an open mind as far as investigations were concerned.
“But I think the media also helped us a bit in the investigations because the more publicity there was, the more people helped us with whatever information they had.”
Mr Narayan said it took his team of detectives about seven days of continuous work to detect the suspect and charge him.
“The case was detected through information that came from a high school student. It came directly to me,” he said.
“The student came to me through another person and through that information, we were able to break the case.
“Only one statement was given to me by the student and I analysed and narrowed it down.
“I personally interviewed the informant and we were able to narrow down the suspect, interview and charge him.
“It was a high profile murder case and it was a big challenge for me and my team of detectives to solve it.
“But while we were able to arrest and charge the suspect, no police detective was recognised for the hard work they did in solving the case.”
Mr Narayan said like other murder cases, investigations into the Scott and Scrivener murders also required a lot of patience and planning.
He said any murder investigation was basically about linking the offender to the crime scene.
“Such investigations meant sleepless nights and being away from home for days or even long hours.
“It also affects the family life of police officers and we have to be thankful to our families too for being understanding.
“I was a police detective for 27 years and I had to deal with conflicts at home too because of my hours of work in trying to solve serious cases.
“After retiring from the Fiji Police Force last year, now I realise things when I sit down with my family at home and discuss things.”
Meanwhile, the man who was accused of killing Mr Scott and Mr Scrivener remains at the St Giles Hospital.
He was committed to the mental hospital after it was established in court that he was not in a sound state of mind at the time of the murders.
Last year, his lawyer, the Legal Aid Commission director Sunil Sharma, made an application in court for his released back into society.
Mr Sharma yesterday confirmed his client was still at the Saint Giles Hospital and the case would be called in the High Court in Suva on February 4.
A book has been written and a documentary has also been made on the murders that not only shocked Fiji but the international community too.
