WITNESSES yesterday recounted the chilling moments after Apisai Madigibuli allegedly confessed to killing his pregnant wife at the Waimanu Apartment in Suva in the early morning of April 25, 2024.
According to evidence from six witnesses, Mr Madigibuli had booked a $65 room at the apartment for the 25-year-old victim and their three-year-old daughter. Between 4am and 5am on April 25, a receptionist heard a woman screaming for help.
While speaking with a security guard near the car park, the receptionist said she saw Mr Madigibuli emerge from Room 103 wearing bloodstained clothes and carrying his daughter. He told them to call the police, saying he had stabbed his wife. The receptionist said Mr Madigibuli appeared calm.
The child, visibly distressed, told the receptionist and security officers that her father had stabbed her mother with a knife.
A female police constable testified that Mr Madigibuli stood still and smiled when police officers arrived about an hour later.
A security guard said that Mr Madigibuli instructed his daughter not to cry, saying, “Mommy didn’t think of us”, before changing his bloodstained shirt.
The victim’s sister, Sera, testified the couple had separated after Mr Madigibuli was jailed in 2022, though they continued co-parenting. She said the victim had recently moved to Suva for work and called Sera on April 24 to prepare their daughter’s belongings after Mr Madigibuli arranged accommodation for them.
Sera said she noticed he appeared angry when he arrived to pick up the child, so she advised the victim to contact her if she needed assistance.
The trial continues today before Justice Dane Tuiqereqere.
