19 Dec 2003

Fiji man charged with a fifth murder

4:40 pm on 19 December 2003

A man described as Fiji's first serial killer is facing his fifth murder charge.

A 23 year old villager, Waisale Waqanivalu, who was charged with four murders near Ba earlier this week, has now been charged with a fifth murder and the attempted murder of a sixth person.

Waqanivalu is reported to have confessed to the murder of 35 year old housewife, Sarita Devi, near Nadi in March this year.

He faces the charge of attempted murder for inflicting serious injuries on Ms Devi's companion, Mohammed Elias, who was found with his arm severed about four hundred metres from her body.

Last week, Waqanivalu is alleged to have killed two indigenous Fijian women, an ethnic Indian man and an indigenous man, all in their early 20s at a drinking spot near Ba.