The son of a former Fijian prime minister will be released after spending seven months in jail for a violent attack on his estranged wife as the couple argued in their bedroom.
Ratu Meli Bainimarama damaged the woman’s car keys and assaulted her causing substantial bruising during an incident on December 3, 2023.
The scaffolder, who had previously served in the Fijian army, was on bail at the time as he defended separate domestic violence allegations.
Today, Magistrate Timothy Khoo convicted the 38-year-old after he admitted pushing his victim off the bed, grabbing her by the hair and putting his hands around her neck during the assault.
“A message must be sent to the offender and the wider community that domestic violence offences such as these are abhorrent,” he said.
The magistrate was shown photographic evidence of the woman’s extensive injuries, including bruising and red marks on her neck, back, chest, arms and leg.
The woman had drunk a bottle and a half of wine and had gone to Bainimarama’s bedroom to accuse him of infidelity after seeing something on his phone.
While the pair were married at the time, the relationship had deteriorated and they were sleeping in separate bedrooms.
As Bainimarama pleaded guilty to destroying or damaging property and assault occasioning actual bodily harm, prosecutors withdrew a third charge of choking without consent.
Khoo rejected claims by the 38-year-old to police that he had been provoked and acted in self-defence.
“The offender is significantly much stronger than her and has 12 years of military training,” the magistrate said.
Bainimarama watched the hearing at Parramatta Local Court from behind a glass barrier in the dock while wearing a grey, Volcom-branded hoodie.
The woman and her supporters sat in the courtroom’s public gallery.
Khoo noted that Bainimarama had shown no remorse for his conduct, although he had completed a domestic-violence course in prison.
He also questioned defence barrister Razia Shafiq’s submissions that her client experienced mental health issues such as PTSD.
He said he had not seen any medical evidence to support such a diagnosis.
The magistrate imposed a total sentence of 10 months in prison with a non-parole period of seven months.
Because Bainimarama has been on remand since December, he is due to be released from Silverwater prison shortly.
An apprehended violence order prohibiting him from contacting, assaulting, threatening or living in the same residence as the victim has been imposed for two years.
Earlier today, Shafiq argued that Bainimarama had called the police himself and locked himself in the bedroom at a time when he had taken out an AVO against the woman over an incident in April 2023.
She had tried to bite her husband’s neck and grab his hair, the barrister said.
Shafiq accepted Bainimarama had lashed out and caused injuries to the woman when he could have just left the house.
Police prosecutor Dean Sigmund rejected suggestions the victim had attacked first, saying Bainimarama was the instigator by shoving her off the bed.
While the 38-year-old had suffered some injuries in the altercation, this was in stark contrast to his wife who was “littered with bruises”, he said.
His father, former military chief and Fijian prime minister Frank Bainimarama, came to power in a 2006 coup and later won democratic elections in 2014 and 2018.
In May, he was sentenced to spend one year in jail for perverting the course of justice.
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