Indian-origin man gets life term for slaughtering his family

An Indian-origin man, convicted of murdering his wife and two minor daughters, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by an court in Fiji.
33-year-old Bimlesh Dayal was sentenced by the high court in Suva, the capital of the island nation of Fiji, for murdering his wife Ranjini Rekha Singh and two daughters, Amisha and Anisha, on October 28, 2011, at their family home in Vatuwaqa, the 'Fiji Times' reported. He later tried to commit suicide.
Bimlesh have to serve at least 20 years in jail for three counts of murder before he becomes eligible for parole, Justice Paul Madigan ruled yesterday.

The incident had sent ripples through the Indian origin community in Fiji, which forms almost 40 per cent of the total population of 827,900.
The State had argued that Bimlesh murdered his wife and children. However, defence counsel Irshad Samad claimed that it was Ranjani who had murdered their young daughters before trying to attack Bimlesh. But the investigator's reports did not support this argument, the report said.
Defence had then argued that Bimlesh struck his wife only once with the chopper in self defence, but post-mortem report said that there were multiple deep wounds on Ranjini's neck.
Bimlesh had claimed that his wife had an affair with their landlord's son.