IT was the early hours of January 29 this year when many people woke up to hear bad news.
The bad news was the murder of Lees Trading Company Ltd’s chief executive officer, Holland Seeto.
Mr Seeto’s body was discovered in his office at Laucala Beach by an employee between 6am and 6.30am that day.
On January 30, The Fiji Times reported police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro saying the employee claimed he saw a masked man fleeing the scene.
The victim’s brother, Dixon Seeto, had told this newspaper that he was on his way to Nadi when his sister-in-law alerted him just after 7am that there was something happening at the factory and the workers were outside and police were inside.
Mr Seeto had said there was nothing unusual in his brother’s behaviour in the days leading up to his death.
He had said his brother acted the way he did every other day and his children even went to school.
As Mr (Holland) Seeto’s employees started arriving to work on the morning of January 29, they were greeted by the sight of police officers at the premises.
The death of their boss had shocked the employees, who stayed outside the company premises until police removed Mr Seeto’s body from there a few hours later after a forensic examination of the scene.
One of the groups that was most shocked by the murder was the Chinese community living in the country, many of whom for years.
A spokesman for the Chinese community, Yuen Ping Tong, had said they did not expect anything like that to happen to Mr Seeto.
“What we don’t understand is who would do such a thing to someone who gets along well with everyone. We will make sure that whoever is responsible for his death and those who are involved in it are taken to task,” he had said.
The question, as raised by Mr Tong then, that who would do such a thing to Mr Seeto is still being asked by some people in various parts of the country.
On January 31, we reported that police investigations into Mr Seeto’s murder revealed that the suspect may have known the victim personally.
Ms Naisoro had said then that information uncovered throughout police investigations implied that the masked person who was last seen running away from the scene of the crime towards the creek opposite the factory was someone known to the victim.
But upon enquiring with shopkeepers and shop employees near the factory, no information was forthcoming to police as people did not recall seeing anyone fleeing the area that morning.
On the same day, we also reported that Mr Seeto’s wife Vuli Seeto was still trying to come to terms with the loss of her husband.
Fiji Retailers Association president Himmat Lodhia had also urged government officials and police to tighten their security system and find out the real cause of Mr Seeto’s death.
A chronology of events we ran on the same day stated that Mr Seeto arrived at the factory at 6am and a staff member who was also in the office noticed a masked man moving quickly through the premises and gave pursuit.
The masked man fled through a back gate and the staff member ran back to alert Mr Seeto but instead finds him in a pool of blood.
It was also reported that police dogs were brought in to track the scent of the masked person but the dogs lost the scent at a creek near the factory.
On February 1, we reported that a man was in police custody in relation to Mr Seeto’s murder.
The man was taken in by police after some witnesses had been interviewed.
Mr Seeto’s funeral on February 1 was attended by hundreds of people from all walks of life.
On February 2, we reported the police urging people to come forward with any information they may have in relation to the murder.
Senior police officers had also met with officials of the Director of Public Prosecutions office then to discuss the case but details of the meeting were not released to this newspaper.
Police had also ruled out then that the murder could have been the work of an organised crime gang.
The man who was taken in by police was kept in custody for a few days for questioning and later released without any charges being laid.
Checks with police since then have only revealed that the case is still under investigation.
Apart from stating that the case was still under investigation, police have not released any other detail about the murder since then.
The killing of Mr Seeto is still much talked about during grog sessions or discussions on murders that have happened in the country so far.
Like the killing of one of the leading businessmen in the country, there are two other cases involving the deaths of Asians which are yet to be solved by the police.
It includes the murder of three Asians and a Fijian man at a fish factory in Wailada, Lami in 2003 and the death of a 12-year-old girl in Samabula, Suva in September last year.
The four people found dead in the fish factory were reportedly shot in the head.
While the police files on the murders are still open, the families of the victims are no doubt still waiting for the culprits to be arrested, charged and taken to court.
In the meantime, the question that many people may still be asking themselves or friends is — “Who killed Mr Seeto? Who killed those at Wailada and the girl in Samabula?”
But only time will tell whether these questions would ever be answered or not — whether the killers in the unsolved murders of Asian people in the past 12 years would be caught or not.
