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Fiji Time: 2:58 AM on Saturday 25 May

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Family wants to bury son to ease the pain

Nanise Loanakadavu
Friday, July 13, 2012

NO decision has been made on when late Guardsman Apete Saunikalou Tuisavura's burial will take place.

And his family in Nauluvatu in Nakelo, Tailevu is calling for the early release of his body for burial.

His mother, Litiana Tuisavura said although they would wait for the decision of the British Army headquarters in the United Kingdom, they wished to get Apete's body as soon as possible.

Mrs Tuisavura said they mourned for the loss of their son every day and they do not know how long it would haunt them.

She said the pain would only ease if they see Apete's body one more time before burial.

His father, Neupote Tuisavura Sr returned to Fiji from England on Wednesday after receiving Apete's body from Afghanistan at the Memorial Garden in Carterton.

British Army Support Officer, Major Jim Hall said the decision would be made by the coroner and they were expecting Apete's body in Fiji in the next two weeks.

The bodies of Apete of the 1st Battalion the Welsh Guards Guardsmen, Warrant Officer Craig Roderick and Leonard Thomas, of the Royal Corps of Signals, were flown into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

The trio, members of an Afghan Police advisory team, were killed on July 1 after helping organise a meeting of elders at Checkpoint Kamparack Pul in Nahr-e-Saraj, Helmand Province.

Guardsman Tuisavura 28, had been a soldier for little more than a year, having finished his training and joined the regiment in June 2011, based in Hounslow, west London.