Rugby star 'will do anything' to keep out of jail

Rugby player Bill Cavubati admits he is hiding in New Zealand to avoid jail in Fiji.

The 32-year-old Fiji international was this year sentenced to a year's jail for an assault in 1999, but the sentence was suspended for two years.

Fijian authorities appealed and a new sentence of six months' jail was imposed. Fijian police have issued a warrant for Cavubati's arrest.

"I will do anything to stay out of jail and if that means staying here in New Zealand then good," the player said.

"I'm just going to lie low and keep out of trouble. I am not going back - it's as simple as that."

The 140kg prop, who has played 24 tests for Fiji and 55 games for Wellington, said he would fight any attempt to have him returned to Fiji.

"They can't force me back because there are no extradition agreements between my Government and New Zealand."

He admitted that his decision to stay in New Zealand was likely to spell the end of his international career.

Cavubati's lawyers in Fiji have lodged an appeal against the new jail sentence. If it is successful, he could join Fiji's World Cup training squad in Suva next year.

"I still have a faint hope of making the cup in October."

But legal sources in Fiji said it was unlikely the sentence would be overturned.

The court was told Cavubati severely beat businessman Manasa Baravilala until stopped by a passerby outside a nightclub in December 1999.

Mr Baravilala spent four days in hospital. He needed plastic surgery on his nose and lost three teeth.

At the appeal this month, Justice Nazhat Shameem said Cavubati displayed "cowardice and callousness when he brutally assaulted the man".

She said national rugby players were considered role models in Fiji. The courts had to send a message to the community that such violence would not be tolerated.

- NZPA