Shattered and still reeling from shock.
That is how Tevita Seru described his family’s state of emotion upon receiving the devastating news that his 21-year-old niece, Nunia Kurualeba, was no more.
The young woman from Kadavu was killed in an alleged domestic violence case in her apartment in Kingswood, Western Sydney, Australia, on Monday afternoon.
Nunia had left for Australia last year on a student visa to study finance.
Last month, Mr. Seru said Nunia visited them during a break. On Monday, they received the heartbreaking news.
According to ‘9NEWS’, Nunia was found dead with two stab wounds to her chest after police were called to the Great Western Highway in Kingswood around 1.40pm (Sydney time) on Monday.
Nunia’s partner, Jeremaia Tuwai, 21, has been arrested and charged, and was refused bail by the Penrith Court in Sydney yesterday.
In 2016, an article headlined ‘I Want to Be an Officer Like My Father’ was published, where the then 14-year-old Nunia spoke fondly of her late father during the Fiji Police Force Remembrance Day Commemoration in Lautoka.
Nunia, the eldest of three siblings, attended the Remembrance Day on behalf of her family, honoring the sacrifices of her late father, Police Constable Viliame Kurualeba, who passed away following an illness in January 2016.
Eight years later, in a foreign land, Nunia met her fate.
Tevita Seru
Speaking from Kadavu yesterday, Mr. Seru, Nunia’s Tata Levu (Uncle), described his niece: “Nunia was special to us for many reasons, one of them being that she was named after my mother.
“She is the eldest of three girls and attended Nadi Airport, Adi Cakobau, Vunisea Secondary, and then Suva Christian School before going on to a school in Ba.
“I am older than Nunia’s dad and she was so close to me and my family as she was under my care for most of her secondary school years after her dad passed on.
“She grew up in my house with my family, she would always live with us during her high school years, and it’s really hard for us to accept the news of her passing.
“It is really hard for us to even think about it.
“She is in Australia with her younger sister while her mother is in the United States. The youngest sibling is here in the west with her aunt.
“She was always conservative, never really sharing with us what she was going through.”
Amid the profound sorrow, Mr. Seru said they would cling to cherished memories of Nunia, her infectious laughter, and her dreams for a bright future that will now remain unfulfilled.