Burnt woman's son, husband found

SARAH HARVEY AND MICHELLE DUFF

A four-year-old boy, flown out of the country by his father the day after his mother's body was found burnt on a roadside, has been found by Fijian police.

Detective Senior Sergeant Nigel Keall of the Waikato CIB said the boy was found when Fijian police located his father. NZ police are currently working to verify the boy's wellbeing.

"The boy's father is a person of interest in relation to the homicide enquiry into the death of his wife, 28-year-old Ranjeeta Sharma, of South Auckland whose body was found west of Huntly Thursday night.

"Our inquiry is continuing and we are seeking further clarification from Fiji police of the circumstances surrounding the father being located.

"Until we have had further discussions with Fiji police we are unable to add more at this stage."

It is feared Ranjeeta Sharma, 28, was the victim of an honour killing, after her charred body was found on a rural road, near Huntly in Waikato.

The day after her body was discovered, her husband - named by relatives as Devesh Kumar Sharma - flew to Fiji with their son Akash, police believe.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman Chris Wilson said New Zealand did have an extradition agreement with Fiji.

"At this stage it is a police matter and we will provide police with any assistance they require of us."

Fiji Police Inspector Atunaisa Sokomuri told state radio that they are working closely with their New Zealand counterparts on the case.

"We can confirm at the moment that we have on our custody the man that allegedly burnt his wife in New Zealand," he told Fiji Broadcasting.

"He is the husband of the lady and is in police custody and also his 4 year old son is with him and is safe and well."

Sharma and his wife are both Fiji nationals. Her car was recovered at Auckland airport.

On Sharma's Facebook page she posted a photo of herself and Akash in December, writing: "my little boy my life".

There are many photos of Akash.

On the social networking site she says she is married, studied at the Manukau Institute of Technology, worked at Middlemore Hospital and is from Suva in Fiji.

Michael Clark, director of the Manukau-based training provider Corporate Academy Group, said Sharma completed a healthcare programme last year and she had been expected to return this year to complete more papers.

"She was a very good student," he said.

Classmate Rachael Gapes said Mrs Sharma was a "quite friendly" woman who "used to keep her personal life away from the class".

"I know she was determined to finish the course. She was sometimes shy but very determined. She was very helpful."

Gapes said she had not met Mrs Sharma's husband, but she had met her son, who was "always happy to see his mum".

Sharma was employed at Middlemore Hospital, in South Auckland. Staff from the hospital would not comment about her.

Former neighbour Neville Callander said yesterday the family had lived in a small town-house in Manurewa for about three months last year.

He said he would say hello over the fence to Sharma, who he said was "friendly, but timid", and would see her playing with her young son.

Her husband was a courier driver who would have fellow drivers over on Friday nights for drinks.

Mr Sharma's Hamilton-based relatives revealed he was prone to outbursts of anger.

The relatives did not want to be named but said the couple moved to New Zealand in 1998 and got married in Fiji in 2002.

One relative said Sharma's parents were in Australia, but he did have aunts and uncles in Fiji.

His parents had not heard from him and were anxious for the safety of the couple's son, Akash.

"They don't know where he is; no-one has heard from him.

"Everyone is worried. We are worried about the son ... there's so many questions floating around in my head, it's hard."

Mr and Mrs Sharma visited the Hamilton couple earlier this month and all appeared normal, the female relative said.

"We sat down and had dinner and they left. Everything was fine, everything was normal. They seemed happy."

However, Sharma did have anger issues, she said. "I think he's a bit off-minded.

"His behaviour is a bit weird. You never know when he is very nice or when he's going to get weird.

"Even when you're talking he can get violent. The way he talks and he gets really angry and acting crazy."

The female relative said the couple were transient and wouldn't stay in the same house for any longer than six months.

Callander said he came home to find the couple had left one Saturday about six months ago.

He understood they left with rent owing.

Police would not comment on a motive yesterday. The brutal death looks like an honour killing – a type of murder carried out in the Indian subcontinent when the victim was seen to have brought shame upon the family – according to an expert.

"Burning is often the chosen method, because it gets rid of evidence and it can be made to look like an accident," said Priyanca Radhakrishnan of the Shakti Community Council, a national organisation that provides support for ethnic victims of domestic violence.

"We've seen quite a few high-risk cases in Wellington alone ... women who have come to our refuge and got out of situations which could have ended up in honour killings."

The most clear case of honour killing was that of Gulshad Banu Hussein, 23, who died within minutes after she was set alight by former boyfriend, Ahmad Riyaz Khan, at the Shell service station in Atkinson Ave, Otahuhu, in 2004. The motivation was said to be her rejection of him.

Amnesty International activism support manager Margaret Taylor said thousands of women were the victims of honour killings worldwide every year. Many went unreported, but Human Rights Watch estimated there were 5000 "bride burnings" a year in India alone.

"Even in Western countries it has occurred, because these immigrant populations are coming to them. The immigrant communities have more at risk ... because the women don't always speak good English and they are more isolated at home."

- The Dominion Post and Waikato Times, with Stuff