IT is an area that was once frequented by people drinking alcohol.
Apart from it being a drinking spot, some people also used to take their partners there, especially at night.
But something that happened there one night about 12 years ago has put an end to the partying and other things the place was being used for.
Four people were killed in the area on the same night and their bodies were found
metres away from each other.
The brutal killings created a fear in people who used to frequent the area and even in those who walked past the place to work in their sugarcane farms nearby.
It was not only the fear of what had
happened that kept people away from the area, as there were also reports of the place being haunted after the deaths.
Today, The Fiji Times takes a look at the four murders that happened at Wavuwavu in Ba close to the festive period in 2003.
By AVINESH GOPAL
SARWAN Goundar left his home early in the morning, as usual, to work in his sugarcane farm.
His farm was some distance away from his house, in an area that people frequented for drinking parties at night.
The place is Wavuwavu in Ba, which is a few minutes drive by road out of Ba Town.
While it was a normal working day for him, what he discovered that morning was revealed by him to this newspaper and published on December 10, 2003.
Mr Goundar, who passed away earlier this year, had first stumbled over the body of Adrian Jotish Lal, 21, a student, who was lying only in his briefs beside his minivan.
After he failed to wake him up, he assumed that the young man was drunk and in deep sleep. He left him there and went towards his farm.
It was reported by The Fiji Times on December 10, 2003 that as soon as Mr Goundar started ploughing his cane field, he discovered the bodies of an iTaukei man and a woman.
Mr Goundar had said he ran about a kilometre to the nearest house to report the matter to police after seeing the two bodies.
When police officers arrived at the scene and searched the area, they found another body some distance from where Mr Lal was lying.
It was also reported then that the victims’ clothes were strewn all over the cane field. They had head injuries only.
A white mini-van stained with blood was also found abandoned in a cane field at Wailailai, which was about two kilometres from the crime scene.
The other three bodies were of Saraseini Batiratu, 20, Eleni McGoon, 23, and Vonivate Kubu, 26.
It was reported on December 12, 2003 that Mr Lal, of Tauvegavega in Ba and Ms Batiratu, a police sergeant’s daughter, were students of the then Fiji Institute of Technology.
Also, it was reported that Ms McGoon was from Natalecake while Mr Kubu, a mini-van driver, was from Nailaga Village.
Mr Goundar’s elder brother, Armogam Goundar of Navatu in Ba confirmed that his brother, who passed away about six months ago, had discovered the bodies at Wavuwavu.
“When I arrived at the farm with tea for my brother and his sons, police officers had already arrived there and cordoned off the area,” he said.
He said people often used to go to the place for drinking parties at night.
“But all parties stopped after the four murders in the area. People stopped going there to drink and some even stopped crossing the area.
“The area became a bit haunted after the murders. People could hear voices there and no one used to go there alone.
“One could sometimes hear two women talking, or a group of people talking there. It started after the murders.”
Mr Goundar said people who had to cross the area at night to go to their homes used to pray a lot first before going past.
However, he said things had quietened down in the area and there were no recent reports of people experiencing anything there.
A visit to the scene by a team from this newspaper last week showed signs that the place was hardly being visited by people for drinking parties.
During the 20 minutes or so spent near the tamarind tree near, which the bodies were found, not a single person could be seen anywhere around.
It is a vast farmland area and hardly any house can be seen nearby.
On December 13, 2003, we reported that police were questioning who they believed was the prime suspect in the multiple murders.
It was also reported that the post- mortem of the four deceased persons revealed that they died from severe head injuries caused by a blunt object.
Police officers investigating the case then believed the murder weapon could have been an iron rod or a piece of wood.
On December 15, 2003, we reported police confirming that the suspect they had in custody had confessed to the four murders at Wavuwavu.
Waisele Waqanivola, a bus checker, of Votua Village in Ba had been charged with four counts of murder.
At a press conference a day earlier, the then Director of Criminal Investigations Department, Senior Superintendent of Police Emosi Vunisa had said Waqanivola had confessed to the crime.
SSP Vunisa had said the suspect told police he entered the cane field on the night of the incident intending to rob the victims.
He said the suspect was arrested after an intensive investigation conducted by more than 50 officers from various police stations in the Western Division.
Also, he had said after an extensive search, police managed to locate the murder weapon — a steel pipe — about 10km from the crime scene.
SP Vunisa had said the suspect told police that after the incident, he drove towards Tavua where he dumped the murder weapon before he returned towards the scene to park the vehicle.
While police were investigating the four murders, they were also trying to link Waqanivola to a murder at Waimalika in Nadi in March 2003 as the modus operandi was similar.
On December 16, 2003, we reported that more than 500 people had gathered outside the Ba Magistrates Court to catch a glimpse of the 23-year-old accused.
A day later, we reported that an internal police investigation had started following the alleged assault of Waqanivola by other inmates in the police station cell.
Two men were locked in a cell for being drunk and disorderly and Waqanivola was later put in the same cell with the duo.
When police officers went to check a commotion in the cell on that particular night, Waqanivola alleged he was assaulted by the duo, who were later charged.
On December 19, we reported police confirming that Waqanivola had been charged with the murder of a woman at Waimalika in Nadi and for attempting to murder the woman’s male companion, whom he left for dead.
SSP Vunisa had said police were able to link Waqanivola to the Waimalika murder after investigations into the Ba killings.
Waqanivola was later jailed for life for his crime.
The place where he committed his first murder at Waimalika is now an industrial area while Wavuwavu remains a sugar cane farming area.
But whatever happened in these areas are still deep down in the memories of people who live around there and the family members of the victims.
