Meli Bainimarama, the son of Fiji’s former Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama, will remain in custody until January in Australia after being charged with a string of new domestic violence offences, including allegedly intentionally choking without consent and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
According to the Parramatta Court, Bainimarama was refused bail yesterday afternoon and the matter will be called again for hearing on the 16th of January next year.
The ruling on the defendent’s application for a apprehended domestic violence order will also be heard on January 16th.
36 year old Meli Bainimarama is separately defending a raft of other domestic violence charges, in which police allege he choked a woman, bit her on the face and body, hit her across the ear and sent her an intimate video he recorded without her consent.
A hearing for those charges was left part-heard in Parramatta Local Court in June and adjourned until April next year.
While he was on bail for those charges, Meli Bainimarama was arrested at a Guildford home on December 4th and separately charged with allegedly intentionally choking a person without consent, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and property damage.
