Threat of testimony may have fuelled Fiji killings

By PAUL YANDALL

Fiji police suspect the brutal slaying of Red Cross chief John Scott and his partner, expatriate New Zealander Gregory Scrivener, was politically motivated.

The suspicion echoes the belief by Mr Scrivener's family that the killings were carried out by people determined to prevent Mr Scott from testifying in the treason trial of coup plotter George Speight.

Mr Scott, aged 53, played a crucial role in delivering aid to ousted Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and others held hostage by Speight last year.

Mr Scott and Mr Scrivener, 39, were discovered dead on the bedroom floor of Mr Scott's home in Suva on Sunday morning. Their bodies were badly mutilated.

But Mr Scrivener's family from Tauranga rejected initial police suggestions yesterday that the killings might have been domestic-related.

His sister, Judy Alvos, said the pair had regularly received death threats since the coup.

"I know in my heart that this is politically motivated. I told Greg to get out after the coup, that he would come home in a body bag if he didn't - that's exactly what has happened."

She said the two men had been in a relationship for 22 years.

Fiji police said the execution-type killings had left them baffled as no money or property was stolen.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Moses Driver, said the possibility of the killings being politically motivated was being considered.

"We are not ruling anything out, but it is too early to draw any conclusions. The political [motive] is there, but it could still be robbery, or it could have something to do with them. It could be one of 1001 reasons."

He said rumours of a death threat made against Mr Scott as late as last Thursday were still unsubstantiated.

Mr Scott told colleagues that he received a visit from a man last Thursday who warned him he would die if he testified in the Speight trial.

The killer is believed to have entered the house through the front door before attacking the men in their bedroom.

Bloody footprints were discovered outside their home as well as a cane knife, thought to be the murder weapon.

Police have spoken to the live-in houseboy, who found the bodies, and a gardener employed by Mr Scott. No arrests have been made.

Mrs Alvos said Mr Scott's testimony would have been damning.

"He saw a lot of the brutality that went on. They [the coup plotters] wouldn't want that sort of stuff to come out."

Both men were Fiji citizens, but Mr Scott was educated in New Zealand and spent several years working here.

He was born in Fiji but his mother lives in Wanganui. He became Fiji Red Cross director-general in 1994.

Mr Scrivener, who was born and raised in Tauranga, met Mr Scott in Auckland. The two went to live in Fiji 12 years ago and Mr Scrivener became a citizen in 1994.

Police yesterday delayed the release of autopsy results until today, citing difficulties arranging an autopsy.

New Zealand's High Commissioner in Suva, Adrian Simcock, said news of Mr Scott's death had shocked Fiji.

Mr Chaudhry, the ousted Prime Minister, said from Suva that Mr Scott's death was a devastating blow for Fiji.

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