A New South Wales court has filed criminal charges against the son of the prime minister of Fiji over claims of domestic abuse.
Ratu Meli Bainimarama, 36, is accused of 17 crimes involving domestic violence, including four counts of intentionally choking a person without their consent, two counts of stalking, four counts of common assault, one count of damaging property, one count of intentionally disseminating an intimate image, and five counts of assault causing actual bodily harm.
The alleged crimes are said to have occurred in Sydney between February and May of 2022.
The only child of Frank Bainimarama, the prime minister of Fiji, Bainimarama was detained last week. Bail has been approved for him.
On Saturday, a temporary suppression order was granted, preventing the names of Bainimarama or the alleged victim from being made public.
The ABC’s attorneys contested the suppression order during a hearing in Windsor municipal court on Friday, claiming that preventing the publishing of the defendant’s name went against the idea of open justice.
According to Corey Jankie, a senior lawyer for the ABC, “to claim somehow the publishing of materials now will somehow impact juries 12 months down the track is ridiculous.”
The magistrate ordered that although the accused victim’s identity cannot be made public, the temporary suppression order should be lifted and Bainimarama could be recognized.
Bainimarama’s accusations were first mentioned on Thursday in Windsor Local Court, which is northwest of Sydney. On October 13, there will be another mention.
Bainimarama did not show up in person, and his attorney spoke through an audio link instead.
Three Fijian citizens sat in the public gallery on old wooden seats inside the tiny courtroom on Thursday, witnessing the proceedings. They had no intimate acquaintance with Bainimarama.
Feoko Vanuarua, a native of the Fijian Lau group of islands who now resides in Sydney, said, “We just wanted to come and see him; we assumed he’d be here.”
The issue, according to the men, came at a bad time for the prime minister as he prepared for the next election in November, which some experts predict may be the most closely contested in recent Fijian history.
The third man remarked, “Right now, he’s feeling the heat.”
