A St Giles Psychiatric Hospital doctor has told the Suva Magistrates Court that accused temple vandal Samuela Tawase was suffering active mental illness when he allegedly desecrated the Samabula Shiv Temple, offering fresh clinical detail that helps explain why his fitness for trial changed over time. Dr Kira Gaikwad, who examined Mr Tawase and prepared an initial psychiatric report dated July 28, 2025, gave evidence yesterday about the 28‑year‑old’s psychiatric history, symptoms during the July 13, 2024 incident and the reasons for a later assessment by another consultant.
Dr Gaikwad told Magistrate Yogesh Prasad that Mr Tawase was first admitted to St Giles in 2020 after episodes of abnormal behaviour, public disturbances and intense religious preoccupation. He said the accused had been provisionally diagnosed with schizophrenia with associated substance use and that, at the time of his first assessment in July 2025, Tawase was psychotic and unmedicated. The psychiatrist’s report recorded persistent auditory hallucinations Mr Tawase attributed to spiritual entities, naming both Dakuwaqa and the Holy Spirit, and found he believed those voices were directing his actions.
According to Dr Gaikwad’s evidence, the accused described being compelled to preach in public, to sleep in graveyards and to damage property at the Samabula Shiv Temple because he believed he was following divine instructions. The doctor said Tawase appeared to have delusions and confusion about his legal situation, including a conviction that his actions would be excused because they were spiritually directed. Dr Gaikwad emphasised that, in his view, Tawase did not have intent to harm people but was acting under the influence of psychosis; however, he said the role of substances could not be definitively confirmed from the assessment.
Magistrate Prasad queried an apparent inconsistency between Dr Gaikwad’s initial conclusion that Tawase was unfit because of psychosis and a subsequent assessment by Dr Christine Chand two months later that found the accused fit to plead. Dr Gaikwad explained that the discrepancy stemmed from clinical improvement after treatment: the accused was unmedicated and psychotic during the July report but showed improvement once treated, which permitted Dr Chand’s later finding of fitness to enter a plea.
Dr Gaikwad recommended that Mr Tawase be managed in a secure medical facility and receive ongoing psychiatric care. His testimony adds clinical detail to earlier court material in which the state sought a second psychiatric evaluation after noting improvements in the accused’s behaviour while under prescribed medication. Previous reporting in the case said the accused had been previously found unfit to stand trial and that his condition appeared to improve on medication, prompting fresh assessments of competency.
The magistrate is expected to hand down a ruling on the special verdict in the case on April 20, 2026. The matter continues to highlight tensions in how Fiji’s justice system manages defendants whose alleged offending intersects with severe mental illness and religiously framed behaviour.
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