Jehovah's Witness murders wife.

[Kiwi]

A FORMER Jehovah's Witness minister from Melbourne was formally charged with the murder of his wife when he appeared in a Fiji court today.
The hearing for Simon Macartney, 34, had been expected to be heard later this week but went ahead this afternoon.

Mr Macartney appeared briefly in Suva Magistrates Court where a judge remanded him in custody until Thursday.

Mr Macartney, a dual Australian-British citizen from Rockbank in Melbourne's west, has been charged with murdering his wife Ashika Macartney, 29, soon after she arrived in Fiji from Melbourne.

Mrs Macartney, originally from Fiji, had recently gained Australian permanent residency.

Her partly decomposed body was found under bushes at Deuba, on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu, earlier this month. It is believed she was strangled.

Mr Macartney has maintained his innocence, saying he last saw his wife after he picked her up from Nadi Airport on October 22 and dropped her in the town of Sigatoka, where she was met by a taxi driver.

He said that just before he dropped her off, his wife told him she had another husband.

Police originally charged Mr Macartney with murder on November 2, but he was freed four days later when a magistrate said there was not enough evidence to hold him.

He was arrested for a second time last week and on Saturday police again charged him with murder.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22744843-16953,00.html