Kiwis fight to bury son on Fiji island

A Kiwi family desperate to bury their son on the Fijian island he loved have become embroiled in a dispute with the owners of an exclusive resort challenging their land rights.

While Ken Chambers fights to bury his son, the 22-year-old's body is lying in a Fijian morgue.

Alexander Lynch-Chambers died suddenly from an inoperable, undiagnosed brain tumour last week.

Now his parents face the prospect of a court battle against the company behind one of the world's most exclusive luxury resorts.

Mr Chambers wants to bury his son on the privately owned Wakaya Island, much of which makes up Wakaya Resort.

"It's hard enough losing a 22-year-old son to a brain tumour. But when you can't remember him and all you are filled with is anger ... there's no respect. No matter how much you want to get a piece of land back ... there's no moral compass at all," he said.

Mr Chambers moved with his wife, Rita Lynch, to Fiji in 2006 from Taranaki, and his son was studying psychology at the University of the South Pacific when he died.

A few months ago, Alex had developed headaches and lost a lot of weight, yet even after tests and X-rays, the brain tumour was not discovered.

On August 18, three days after he suffered a seizure, his life support machines were turned off.

Three weeks before Alex died, Mr Chambers took him to a section on Wakaya Island where he and his wife had hoped to build a property and retire.

"He fell in love with it. It's paradise on earth."

The couple say they bought a half share of a section on the island in June, and got confirmation of the deal from Fiji's minister of land and resources in July.

Yet while Mr Chambers says the other landowner was happy for a burial plot to go on the land, lawyers for Wakaya Ltd, the company that owns much of the island, are disputing his land rights.

In a statement, they said the other landowner owed three years of rates to Wakaya Ltd, and Mr Chambers owned no land on the island.

They have taken out a High Court injunction to stop the family accessing the island, though Mr Chambers was last night waiting for a court hearing to fight that move.

Wakaya Ltd runs a large private resort on the island, which its website says has hosted guests including Bill Gates, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. It is also the resort where Rolling Stone Keith Richards fell out of a coconut tree.

Guests pay up to US$7600 a night.

It is owned by Canadian David Gilmour – philanthropist, entrepreneur and one of the largest private investors in Fiji.

While lawyers for Wakaya Ltd said their hearts went out to Mr Chambers, they said "the relevant authorities" had confirmed to them that he was not entitled to bury his son on the island.

Mr Chambers, however, remains adamant the land is his, and says he will continue with plans to bury his son.

- © Fairfax NZ News