Son of ex-Fijian prime minister Frank Bainimarama, faces 18 domestic violence charges in Sydney

A Sydney court has been told that the son of a former Fiji prime minister Frank Bainimarama faces multiple ‘extremely serious’ domestic violence allegations.

‘Extremely serious’ domestic violence charges against the son of an ex-Fiji prime minister include allegations of choking and biting, a court has been told.

Ratu Meli Bainimarama, 36, son of former Fiji PM Frank Bainimarama, faces 18 charges including assault, stalking, destroying property, choking without consent, and recording and distributing an image without consent over alleged incidents in 2022.

In his opening address at Parramatta Local Court, police prosecutor Darren Pearce outlined a string of alleged assaults on the female complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, between February and May in Sydney.

The first incident, Mr Pearce said, took place in a car on the way to the airport where Bainimarama hit the woman across the face and pulled her hair, then after missing his flight called her a ‘whore’ and a ‘f***ing slut’.

Also in February, Bainimarama threatened to snap the complainant’s phone, choked her, and ‘pinned’ her to a bed and bit her at a Bligh Park residence, Mr Pearce said.

In March, at the same address, it was alleged Bainimarama bit the woman on the face and shoulder after getting on top of her during an argument in a bedroom.

‘(There’s) an allegation that he again choked her on that occasion,’ Mr Pearce said.

The same month, the police prosecutor contended Bainimarama, also at the Bligh Park home, grabbed the woman and pushed her twice into a wall.

In April, after attending a concert in Parramatta with the woman then passing out in a hotel room, Bainimarama sent her an intimate video message with ‘the intention to distribute’ it, Mr Pearce said.

Other allegations were that Bainimarama hit the complainant across the ear at a house in Redfern causing her to bleed, and punched and choked her at a relative’s house in Roselands after she refused to drink kava, the court heard.

Other allegations were that Bainimarama hit the complainant across the ear at a house in Redfern causing her to bleed, and punched and choked her at a relative’s house in Roselands after she refused to drink kava, the court heard

Earlier, Bainimarama’s barrister AJ Karim said it was ‘objectively’ one of the more serious sets of domestic violence allegations he had seen.

‘The allegations are extremely serious,’ Mr Karim told the court.

The court heard there would be evidence from the complainant, a flatmate and police witnesses, and that text messages formed part of the brief of evidence.

Mr Karim said there were ‘certain complexities’ in the case including the complainant’s ‘extensive criminal history’ of dishonesty that involved fraud and counterfeiting.

The hearing continues in closed court before Magistrate Gareth Christofi.

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