HE went on the wrong side of the law to make ends meet.
One mistake 25 years ago made him lead a life of crime for a number of years.
But then another thing he encountered a few years ago was the turning point in his life.
It was not by choice but the circumstances that pushed Jone Loanakadavu into a life of crime.
While some like him are still struggling to change their lives, Mr Loanakadavu, who resides in Saru, Lautoka, is one of the few who has made a change for himself and his family.
The determination to change for the betterment of his family has seen the 42-year-old Kadavu man now living a holy life.
During a recent visit to Lautoka, he revealed his life story to The Fiji Times as a form of encouragement for other ex-convicts.
Mr Loanakadavu, who is the second eldest in a family of three brothers and one sister, said his mother left them when he was 16 years old.
"We all were left there with my dad, who was the sole breadwinner in the family," he said.
"During Christmas Eve when I was 16 years old, I asked my dad to buy me a pair of jeans but he told me there was no money.
"So I went with a friend and broke into a shop to get some money to buy a pair of jeans.
"As a young boy, I thought it was the easiest way to make money and I left school after completing Form Five and went on a crime spree."
Mr Loanakadavu said he was caught in 1987 by police when he was 17 years old and bound over by the court because of his young age.
"I went on the wrong side of the law, wrong side of life, to make ends meet.
"In 1996, I applied for the position of kiln operator at Tropik Wood Industries Limited and I was lucky to get the job.
"But in 2002 I was forced to resign because alcohol and drug use and abuse messed things up for me.
"After losing my job, I was back in the world of crime from 2002 to 2008, during which time I was married with three children."
Mr Loanakadavu said he was pushed back into prison in 2006 because he had not completed his term as an extra-mural prisoner.
After completing his few months pending sentence, he was released from prison and he did unlawful things to make ends meet for his young family.
"The turning point in my life was when my sister, who is the youngest in the family, got possessed while on holiday in Fiji from Australia about five years ago," he said.
"She was living with me and after seeing what she went through, I thought this is it and I gave myself up and fully surrendered to God.
"I saw that there are only two ways on this planet. One is the devil's way and the other is God's way, which is the right one."
Mr Loanakadavu said he decided to utilise land and as such, he leased a small block of land in Saru, Lautoka from a church member.
He said the female member of the Apostle Gospel Outreach encouraged him to utilise the land.
"I saw the land and I knew that this is it, so I started developing the land slowly from 2009 by planting root crops.
"At the same time, I slowly started building a house on the land and I moved into the house on August 1, 2009 with my family."
Mr Loanakadavu built a piggery in 2011 and he has four pigs today, apart from a vegetable and root crops farm.
"We Fijians have land and the main thing is to make use of our land to derive the full benefits from it.
"The main thing is our mentality. It's a total commitment and without God I wouldn't have come this far.
"I want to develop this land further and if I'm able to get a loan from the relevant authorities, I will pay them back," said Mr Loanakadavu, who lived most of his life at the Public Rental Board flats in Simla, Lautoka.