£500 Damages

Against Fiji-Indian MLC

SOON after re-election to the Fiji Legislative Council, Mr Ayodhya Prasad, found himself the defendant in a breach of promise suit in which a widow named Rajpati sued him for £4,000.

The widow alleged that three weeks after Ayodhya Prasad’s wife committed suicide he and she lived together as man and wife, and that relying on a promise of marriage she allowed him to seduce her.

She claimed £576 paid to enable defendant to go to India, £424 spent on him in Fiji and India, and £2,000 paid to him for the return of freehold land which he had allegedly persuaded her to transfer to him without any consideration upon trust for her in the basis of a promise of marriage.

A political undercurrent was noticeable when one witness admitted that he had opposed defendant in the recent elections.

The same witness was also asked whether it was true that he was the cog which started the wheels moving in the Police Inquiry Com mission, but was not required to answer after the presiding judge (Mr. Justice Hammett) queried the relevance of the question.

During the hearing plaintiff’s Ml i‘ A ’ D> Fatel > conceded claim for the return of the £2,000 could not succeed outcome was an award of £5OO damages and costs in favour of the widow.

H A son was born on September 8 to Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose Thomas,

Madang, NG.