A hearing originally set for Meli Bainimarama at the New South Wales Local Court in Parramatta was postponed to November 27 due to a change in his plea. Bainimarama has entered a guilty plea to several charges, including assault occasioning actual bodily harm, stalking or intimidating with the intent to cause fear or physical harm, destroying or damaging property, distributing intimate images without consent, and intentionally choking a person without consent.
The son of Fiji’s former prime minister was charged with these offenses in 2023, following prior charges related to assault and domestic violence. The NSW Local Courts confirmed his earlier charges of damaging property, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and choking without consent, which he committed while on bail from 2022, when he faced multiple counts of assault and domestic violence.