Update: Fijileaks understands Alexander drank weedkiller paraquat and died in hospital - RIP to a brave woman who stood up to KILLER Kean! Meanwhile, FFP Minister KILLER Parveen Bala is still on the loose!
"Am off to bed now, see you tomorrow, if I am not murdered in my sleep!"
‘Your allegations of fraud in the attached email is unwelcome and unwarranted and highly embarrassing for you as Chairman of the FRU in displaying bullying tactics and dire unprofessionalism. The misuse of Funds that have occurred at the FRU over the years that you have held the position as Chairman and the complete shambles that the FRU sits in leaves you with no rightful direction that the IRAFJ should not exist. Also you may need to be reminded, that it is public knowledge that YOU murdered another human being and were never taken to trial?’ The late Julie Alexander to Francis Kean
Residents of Pacific Harbour were shocked to wake up on Sunday morning to discover police swarming around the secluded residence of Julie Alexander, one of the communities better known inhabitants. A strikingly attractive, wealthy New Zealand citizen who counted Frank Bainimarama as a friend, Alexander had been born and brought up in Fiji before moving overseas and developing a series of apparently lucrative ventures involving the legal profession.
Julie Donna "Corrblimey" Alexander died early Sunday morning, November 29 after being rushed to hospitals in Navua and then Suva. At the moment answers are few and far between and, in the circumstances, Fijileaks is reluctant to speculate.
Alexander was a passionate supporter of a variety of charitable causes including a foundation to combat bullying and national water safety in Fiji and one that honoured Paralympian Iliesa Delana called Friends of Fijians in Need. She described being brought up in extreme poverty as her motivation.
Her latest cause was the creation of a rugby academy based in Nadroga called the International Rugby Academy of Fiji. But it is here that she ran into deep controversy which carried through into the final hours of her life.
On the Tuesday before she died, she received an emailed letter from FRU chairman Francis ‘Killer’ Kean saying she had no permission to run an academy in Fiji and no licence. Quoting World Rugby regulation 4 and copying World Rugby officials William Glenwright and Bruce Cook, and the Minister of Sport Col Laisenia Tuitubou, Kean’s letter demanded, in no uncertain terms, that she ‘immediately stop your misleading representations and the operation of your Rugby Academy in Fiji’.
In fact the Academy had never started and the most tangible aspect of its existence was the apparent gifting of 200 acres of land above Cuvu village in Nadroga, and the social media announcements made by Alexander who was keen to report on the variety of rugby names who had given their support. These included that former All Black France Bunce, announced on November 13, had agreed to act as ‘head of academy’.
Kean is known as ‘Killer’ following his 2007 conviction for manslaughter after he kicked and beat to death a relative at a wedding reception at the Royal Suva Yacht Club only three weeks after his brother in law Frank Bainimarama had overthrown the elected government of Laisenia Qarase. Kean is brother to Mary, Frank’s wife, and was naval commander at the time. He was initially charged with murder before pleading guilty to the lower charge.
The New Zealand judge hearing the case, Gerald Winter, painted a scathing picture of Kean’s loss of control in his summing up: "Kicking this man when he was down demonstrates to me that this was an attack of considerable ferocity. You lost your temper. You resorted to violence. You had to be dragged away from your victim." Winter later resigned from the Fiji High Court saying, "I could not renew my warrant in 2008 if the military regime was still in power as to do so would run contrary to my original oath of office." Kean resumed his role as naval commander on release from prison, and was paid his full salary throughout. He is now a permanent secretary to the Ministry of Transport where his ministerial boss – Praveen Bala – is awaiting trial on causing death by dangerous driving.
That Kean, a convicted killer, should be chairman of the FRU is extraordinary and thanks only to his brother-in-law who nominated him directly to the FRU Board in May this year as the PM’s nominee. But his manslaughter conviction means Kean can only travel to those countries which do not require a visa; he was noticeably absent from the Rugby World Cup 2015 when Fiji played the opening match of the tournament against England.
In a strongly worded reply to Kean’s letter of November 24, Alexander has told her FB group International Rugby Academy of Fiji that she had said to Kean:
‘Your allegations of fraud in the attached email is unwelcome and unwarranted and highly embarrassing for you as Chairman of the FRU in displaying bullying tactics and dire unprofessionalism. The misuse of Funds that have occurred at the FRU over the years that you have held the position as Chairman and the complete shambles that the FRU sits in leaves you with no rightful direction that the IRAFJ should not exist. Also you may need to be reminded, that it is public knowledge that YOU murdered another human being and were never taken to trial?’
This is not the first time that the largely Suva-based violence of the military regime has visited leafy Pacific Harbour. In July 2007 the retirement home belonging to Justice Sir Gordon Ward was fire bombed shortly after Justice Ward had formally advised the LawAsia body that FICAC was operating illegally because it had not been established according to the needs of the constitution.
Widely reported to have been in charge of that attack on the Ward property was one of Bainimarama’s most enthusiastic supporters within the officer corps; then a Colonel, now a Brigadier-General, Sitiveni Qiliho has the job of investigating Alexander’s death in his role as acting police commissioner.
In the meantime, the IRAFJ Facebook site has become a shrine to Alexander’s memory and the belief that in Bainimarama’s Fiji – where soldiers are free to act as policemen while being protected by a permanent amnesty written into the constitution.
One of the site’s more than 4,000 friends had posted:
‘Regardless of what bullshit cover up they've got planned, we know you were murdered!’
Julie Donna "Corrblimey" Alexander died early Sunday morning, November 29 after being rushed to hospitals in Navua and then Suva. At the moment answers are few and far between and, in the circumstances, Fijileaks is reluctant to speculate.
Alexander was a passionate supporter of a variety of charitable causes including a foundation to combat bullying and national water safety in Fiji and one that honoured Paralympian Iliesa Delana called Friends of Fijians in Need. She described being brought up in extreme poverty as her motivation.
Her latest cause was the creation of a rugby academy based in Nadroga called the International Rugby Academy of Fiji. But it is here that she ran into deep controversy which carried through into the final hours of her life.
On the Tuesday before she died, she received an emailed letter from FRU chairman Francis ‘Killer’ Kean saying she had no permission to run an academy in Fiji and no licence. Quoting World Rugby regulation 4 and copying World Rugby officials William Glenwright and Bruce Cook, and the Minister of Sport Col Laisenia Tuitubou, Kean’s letter demanded, in no uncertain terms, that she ‘immediately stop your misleading representations and the operation of your Rugby Academy in Fiji’.
In fact the Academy had never started and the most tangible aspect of its existence was the apparent gifting of 200 acres of land above Cuvu village in Nadroga, and the social media announcements made by Alexander who was keen to report on the variety of rugby names who had given their support. These included that former All Black France Bunce, announced on November 13, had agreed to act as ‘head of academy’.
Kean is known as ‘Killer’ following his 2007 conviction for manslaughter after he kicked and beat to death a relative at a wedding reception at the Royal Suva Yacht Club only three weeks after his brother in law Frank Bainimarama had overthrown the elected government of Laisenia Qarase. Kean is brother to Mary, Frank’s wife, and was naval commander at the time. He was initially charged with murder before pleading guilty to the lower charge.
The New Zealand judge hearing the case, Gerald Winter, painted a scathing picture of Kean’s loss of control in his summing up: "Kicking this man when he was down demonstrates to me that this was an attack of considerable ferocity. You lost your temper. You resorted to violence. You had to be dragged away from your victim." Winter later resigned from the Fiji High Court saying, "I could not renew my warrant in 2008 if the military regime was still in power as to do so would run contrary to my original oath of office." Kean resumed his role as naval commander on release from prison, and was paid his full salary throughout. He is now a permanent secretary to the Ministry of Transport where his ministerial boss – Praveen Bala – is awaiting trial on causing death by dangerous driving.
That Kean, a convicted killer, should be chairman of the FRU is extraordinary and thanks only to his brother-in-law who nominated him directly to the FRU Board in May this year as the PM’s nominee. But his manslaughter conviction means Kean can only travel to those countries which do not require a visa; he was noticeably absent from the Rugby World Cup 2015 when Fiji played the opening match of the tournament against England.
In a strongly worded reply to Kean’s letter of November 24, Alexander has told her FB group International Rugby Academy of Fiji that she had said to Kean:
‘Your allegations of fraud in the attached email is unwelcome and unwarranted and highly embarrassing for you as Chairman of the FRU in displaying bullying tactics and dire unprofessionalism. The misuse of Funds that have occurred at the FRU over the years that you have held the position as Chairman and the complete shambles that the FRU sits in leaves you with no rightful direction that the IRAFJ should not exist. Also you may need to be reminded, that it is public knowledge that YOU murdered another human being and were never taken to trial?’
This is not the first time that the largely Suva-based violence of the military regime has visited leafy Pacific Harbour. In July 2007 the retirement home belonging to Justice Sir Gordon Ward was fire bombed shortly after Justice Ward had formally advised the LawAsia body that FICAC was operating illegally because it had not been established according to the needs of the constitution.
Widely reported to have been in charge of that attack on the Ward property was one of Bainimarama’s most enthusiastic supporters within the officer corps; then a Colonel, now a Brigadier-General, Sitiveni Qiliho has the job of investigating Alexander’s death in his role as acting police commissioner.
In the meantime, the IRAFJ Facebook site has become a shrine to Alexander’s memory and the belief that in Bainimarama’s Fiji – where soldiers are free to act as policemen while being protected by a permanent amnesty written into the constitution.
One of the site’s more than 4,000 friends had posted:
‘Regardless of what bullshit cover up they've got planned, we know you were murdered!’
"In this case it is not disputed that you punched the deceased three times putting him to the ground and then you kicked him. Considerable culpability falls on you for this offending. You deliberately punched and kicked the deceased rather than try some alternative method to send him on his way. Kicking this man when he was down demonstrates to me that this was an attack of considerable ferocity. You lost your temper. You resorted to violence. You had to be dragged away from your victim. I acknowledge that there are compelling mitigating circumstances. This death has caused you and your family great sadness and impacted on your life dramatically. I accept that you are extremely remorseful and in particular I note that you have tried to underscore that remorse with offers to help the deceased's family. Your remorse is also emphasised by your plea. Mr. Kean, John Whippy’s life was precious and its value should not be underestimated. There must be exceptional circumstances before the court can suspend a term of imprisonment. I have searched for those circumstances in your case but can find none. An immediate prison sentence must be imposed." Justice Gerard Winter, Fiji High Court, 2007
