7 Aug 2003

Murderer of Fiji Red Cross director to be detained after not guilty verdict at his trial

10:28 am on 7 August 2003

The murderer of the former Fiji Red Cross director John Scott and his partner Gregory Scrivener has been found not guilty on grounds of insanity.

But High Court Judge, Justice Nazhat Shameem, has ordered that Apete Kaisau be held in custody at the St Giles Psychiatric Hospital until President Iloilo orders his confinement in a place of safe custrody.

Kaisau was charged with murder after the two victims were found hacked to death on the morning of July 21st 2001.

During the trial, a leading Australian psychiatrist, Dr Paul Mullen of Monash University, told the court by satellite video-conference that Kaisau suffered from a form of schizophrenia which resulted in delusion and hallucinations.

Dr Mullen said the accused commited the offences because he believed he was acting on God's commandment to free his country and his family.

In her judgement, Justice Shameem said Kaisau's hate towards homosexuality and the political upheaval in 2000 could also have played a part in his acting the way he did.

She said she accepted that Kaisau caused the deaths of the two men while insane, evidence of which was also found in his Bible.