A 24 year old Nadi man, who was once hailed a hero for saving a drowning student, was today sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of murder.

Lautoka High Court Judge Justice Priyantha Nawana noted that Viliame Tiritiri killed 45 year old Viliame Goneivalu on 01st April, 2008 after brutally assaulting him in the presence of others at the Namaka Public school.

The evidence in the trial revealed that Tiritiri took offence at the advice from the deceased not to drink, yell and misbehave in the premises of the Namaka public school.

This led to an argument and Tiritiri, who was drunk after two night of binge drinking, stomped and kicked the deceased after he fell.

Tiritiri then smashed a cement block on the victims head despite the pleas from those around him to stop.

Judge Nawana said Tiritiri's act of attacking a fallen man with a heavy object, such as a cement-block, is heinous and hardly leaves room for mercy.
 
While handing down sentence, Judge Nawana noted that Tiritiri is married and has a daughter of 1 year and 4 months old.

He noted that his wife is now away in Vanuatu attending to her higher studies and he shoulders the responsibility of looking after the small child, his brother=s children and the 84 year-old grandfather.

The Judge also takes into account that Tiritiri has had some heroic feat to his credit in that he had risked his life to save a drowning student of Namaka Public Free Bird Institute in Beachcomber Island and had been helping disabled children in Tau Village with donations and he also had been assisting flood and cyclone victims in Nadi amongst others.
 
Tiritiri was sentenced to life imprisonment and he will not be eligible for parole within 12 years from today.


Story by: Roneel Lal