30 Nov 2015

Fiji police classify mystery death as attempted suicide

12:29 pm on 30 November 2015

The police in Fiji have opened an investigation into the death of a New Zealand woman Julie Alexander amid allegations of bullying by the Fiji Rugby Union.

fiji police logo

Photo: Fiji Police

The police have classified the case as attempted suicide and say there will be an inquest into Ms Alexander's death.

Ms Alexander who was born in Fiji but holds a New Zealand passport was taken to Navua hospital on Saturday night, then transferred to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva where she died yesterday.

She was the founder of a new rugby organisation in Fiji, the International Rugby Academy of Fiji, which had recently been embroiled in a dispute with the Fiji Rugby Union.

In postings on Facebook on Friday the academy revealed a letter dated last Tuesday from the chairman of the Union, Francis Kean, calling on Ms Alexander to immediately stop her activities.

In her reply to Mr Kean, also posted on Facebook on Friday, Ms Alexander accused the rugby chief of bullying and unprofessionalism.

In the message she told Mr Kean she had made New Zealand's Prime Minister aware of her email should anything untoward happen to her.