SINCE time immemorial, there have been several murder cases in the country. While many have been solved, there are some that are still unsolved. One such case is the murder of a female school principal, who was a foreigner, in late 1970. The case may still be unsolved but some people who were involved in the investigations are still around. A former police officer who was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene still recalls the case. Even though he has retired from the police force, he says the case still bothers him. In an exclusive interview, he talks to The Fiji Times on his experience in investigating the foreigner’s murder.
HE was in the Fiji Police Force for five years and a detective when he was sent to a murder scene.
It was December 1970 but he does not remember the exact date because of the years that have lapsed.
After joining the force in 1965 as a constable and soon becoming a detective, he had attended to some murder cases.
But this case that he was assigned to with other police officers was a bit different as a female school principal’s body had been found in her cottage.
The body found at Davuilevu in Nausori was of Phyllis Ada Furnivall, 41, the principal of Lelean Memorial School.
According to wikitree, Ms Furnivall was born in Australia on July 23, 1929 and she died in Fiji on December 10, 1970.
Ponipate Lesavua, a retired police officer, was assigned by his senior officers then to recover the principal’s body from her home.
“I went with other police officers and saw Ms Furnivall’s body lying inside her house in a pool of blood,” he said.
“She wasn’t wearing any clothes and there were stab wounds on her stomach and other parts of the body.
“There was blood everywhere where she was found dead. She was killed in a very brutal manner by whoever it was.”
Mr Lesavua said as a former police officer and like others too, he sometimes got emotional when attending to some murder cases.
He said seeing the foreigner’s body lying in a pool of blood and the manner in which she was killed made him quite emotional.
“To be honest, I was in tears when I entered the house and saw Ms Furnivall’s body.
Mr Lesavua said police carried out investigations at the scene and around, interviewing people to seek any possible clue into the murder.
He said the principal’s body was taken to the mortuary after a thorough inspection of her house by police officers.
“There was no forensic expertise in the police force at that time and we had to be thorough when investigating the scene.
“In fact, there was nothing as forensic evidence at that time as far as our work was concerned.
“There were no fingerprints or footprints found in the house or outside and the murder weapon was also not found.
“We did not have any lead to track down the killer or killers because there was no evidence left behind.”
Mr Lesavua said police officers went around everywhere in the search for clues into the murder but they remained clueless.
“We had the opinion that it could have been a robbery gone wrong or a case of relationship problem.
“But there was no clue to prove anything as we continued the manhunt for the killer or killers.
“While investigating, we heard that a schoolteacher in Kadavu had gone mentally ill all of a sudden.
“He became a suspect in Ms Furnivall’s killing but we couldn’t interview him because of the state of his mind.”
Mr Lesavua said they later heard that a schoolteacher had left for Australia soon after the murder.
He said a police detective, the late Govind Raju, was sent to Australia to interview the schoolteacher but they could not link him to the killing.
“We went around everywhere and tried our best at that time to solve the case but we just couldn’t get any clue, no solid leads,” he said.
The murder of the school principal was extensively covered by the media at that time, including the foreign media.
In a follow-up story on February 13, 1971, The Fiji Times reported that police inquiries into the unsolved December murder had been stepped-up.
It was reported that in recent developments, the police had addressed staff and Methodist Church officials at the murder scene. Police had also interviewed all 500 students of Lelean Memorial School and interviewed the staff members again.
Ms Furnivall was found stabbed and strangled in her house in the school compound, it was reported.
It was also reported that police had revealed that $433.84 had been stolen from a safe in the school office, possibly on the night Ms Furnivall was murdered.
Furthermore, it was reported that police had appealed for information about a black Holden taxi that was in the compound on the morning the murder was discovered.
Mr Lesavua said prior to attending to Ms Furnivall’s murder, he was involved in investigating and solving other murder cases.
“But this one just baffled me and other police detectives at that time because we just didn’t have any solid lead to track down the killer or killers.
“At that time, we even went down to the Western Division from Suva to assist officers there in solving murder cases.
“This one was completely different from other cases and it bothered me as years passed because we couldn’t solve it.
“It’s still bothering me because the case is still unsolved.
“I was part of the investigating team then and I don’t know how we just couldn’t find any leads.”
Mr Lesavua said although almost 45 years had lapsed since Ms Furnivall’s body was found, no one had been arrested yet in connection with the murder.
He said the murder of the school principal would always be a case that would bother him as long as he was alive.
“Even if it takes a few days or weeks, the killer or killers are arrested, charged and produced in court.
“But in this case, we didn’t arrest anyone, leave alone charging someone and taking that person to court for Ms Furnivall’s murder.
“It’s a mystery so far on who killed the school principal and no one knows if that person is still alive or he has died with the secret,” said Mr Lesavua.
