Expats in shock over murder in island paradis

A PICTURESQUE residential area on the outskirts of Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila, is a waterfront paradise.

But now there is deep shock and fear following the murder and suspected sexual assault of gentle 69-year-old Australian Lyndall Jaques, who lived on Devils Point Road, a largely Australian expat enclave, with her two dogs.
Ms Jacques, a former schoolteacher who had lived in Vanuatu since 1986, was one of about 200 expatriates who lived on the road with homes overlooking the sea and near to the town's cafes and shops.

Southern district police commander John Taleo told the Herald last night her body was found by a gardener on Monday morning naked, with a sarong thrown over her, in a pool of blood.
Her throat had been cut and the house burgled.

"That community is very disappointed and upset over what has happened," he said.
Two Australian Federal Police forensic experts have been sent to Vanuatu to help with the investigation and a pathologist was being flown to the country from French New Caledonia.
Commander Taleo said it was believed three or four young men were involved in the attack and there was a search under way for the suspects.

In the past, Vanuatu has been seen as far removed from the urban violence of Papua New Guinea and ethnic strife in the neighbouring Solomon Islands.
But the publisher of the Vanuatu Daily Post, Marc Neil-Jones, who knew Ms Jaques, pointed to signs of relative innocence being lost.

"More people are drifting in from the outer islands to Port Vila looking for work," he said. "But here they mostly can't find jobs and they have no gardens to provide them with food."
A front-page editorial in the Daily Post yesterday was headed "Crime out of control - it is time to stop the talk and act."

"More and more expatriates are quietly getting guns for protection and unless the Government acts quickly, the situation will get progressively worse as nothing is being done about urban drift and police are under-manned and under-financed," it stated.

"The latest senseless rape and murder of a gentle, elderly, retired expatriate woman along Devils Point Road, which has become a major target for thieves over the last 12 months, has angered the expatriate community who are demanding action and improved security."
Both Mr Neil-Jones and Commander Taleo said Australian help was needed to set up a fingerprint database to help catch repeat offenders.

"We only have a small national population of about 200,000 and most of the crime is urban," Mr Neil-Jones said. "So if Australia wants to help, this is something that is really needed."
Mr Neil-Jones said Ms Jaques loved pottering about in her garden and would visit his home to get plants.

It is understood that the one relative whose whereabouts had been established was her former husband who is ill in a Brisbane nursing home.








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