Fiji murder: Daughter speaks

THE daughter of a former Great Yarmouth woman, brutally murdered on a tropical island, has welcomed the life sentence handed to her mother's murderer. Claire Borrett, 19, said she could finally grieve for her mother Wendy Singh after Fijian journalist, Raymond Singh, was found guilty of murdering the former nurse in a frenzied attack which left her with horrific injuries.

THE daughter of a former Great Yarmouth woman, brutally murdered on a tropical island, has welcomed the life sentence handed to her mother's murderer.

Claire Borrett, 19, said she could finally grieve for her mother Wendy Singh after Fijian journalist, Raymond Singh, was found guilty of murdering the former nurse in a frenzied attack which left her with horrific injuries.

The body of the former James Paget University Hospital auxiliary nurse was found in a pool of blood following a brutal knife attack.

Speaking to the Mercury this week Claire said the family were satisfied with the verdict and sentence.

“The verdict is what we were hoping for. It would have been horrible if he'd have got anything less than life,” said the Yarmouth College student.

Relatives of the 39-year-old victim didn't travel to Fiji in fear of meeting Singh who had been given bail. Instead, Claire and her aunt Christine Stringer, from the Isle of Wight, gave evidence via a video from Basingstoke.

During the trial two-week trial, which began on January 19, Claire gave evidence about her mother's character, after Singh claimed she was an alcoholic.

Singh had denied the killing and claimed he acted in self-defence after his wife picked up a knife and threatened him at their Fijian home. However, the court was told neighbours had heard screams of “please, stop, stop”, before seeing Singh leave the house with their two young children Kaileb and Jahaan.

He was found guilty of her murder last Tuesday .

It was alleged Mrs Singh's murder occurred after a row over her plans to give money to her 15-year-old son from a previous marriage George, had spiralled out of control.

Originally from Surrey, Wendy had lived in Yarmouth for a number of years when she was known as Wendy Artiss and had met Singh during a university trip to Fiji in 2004. Singh moved to the UK and the couple set up home in Keyes Avenue, Yarmouth, before marrying at Gorleston register office.

Claire said: “She was a kind and caring person and always fought for the best for us. She wanted to do a degree to get a better life for us.”

Singh had previous convictions of domestic violence against his wife when they lived in Ipswich and Claire said while she had not witnessed physical abuse, Singh did have an aggressive nature.

“He was abusive and made threats to me,” she said.

Singh will serve at least 18 years of his sentence.