Family criticise lack of communication as authorities consider Fiji death

A family's desperate quest to clarify if their brother died by suicide or was murdered in Fiji has left them without answers almost two years on.

Leading up to his death, life had never been better for Jason Rigby.

It was 2024, and the Gold Coast 40-year-old was working as an assistant manager at a luxury Fijian resort, spending his time off work surfing waves and playing golf.

"He was loving life in Fiji, it was probably the best job he'd had in his career … it was a good time in his life," his brother, Chris Rigby, said.

Jason Rigby died in his staff accommodation on December 14, 2024. He was found with knife wounds to the chest.

Initial police reports determined he had died by suicide.

That line of investigation was something his family said they could not accept at face value and spurred their unrelenting fight to gain certainty or uncover the truth, with what they described as little support from Australian or Fijian agencies.

The Rigby family said Jason's then-girlfriend, Shivani Siwan, had been the first to notify the family that he had died, and that she had been in the apartment at the time of his death.

"[Shivani told our family] she was in the room, Jason came in and grabbed a knife and went to the bathroom and she heard a thud," Chris's wife, Jess Rigby, said.

Change in theory

Jason's death came at a time when Fiji was already in the spotlight over the suspected alcohol poisoning of four Australian tourists at a different resort.

The family said the early theory of suicide "muddied the waters" in getting media attention for Jason's case.

"I think the narrative from the start made it hard for us," Chris said.

Two days after Jason died, while his father Peter and Chris were on a three-hour flight to Nadi, Jess was told by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) consular officer that Fijian police were reconsidering Jason's cause of death.

Jess said that, despite initially suspecting suicide, something had "come up" and it was now being looked at as potential homicide.

An hour later, she said she received another phone call to confirm police had returned to the original theory of suspected suicide.

"We don't know what changed or what came through in those couple of hours, we still don't know the answer,"

Jess said.

Jess said the backflip in the early days after Jason's death forced his family to question the local investigation efforts.

"You can't even ask questions or push back or ask for things to be done properly because we didn't even know," Jess said.

After identifying Jason's body in Nadi, Chris managed to chase down a toxicology report but was denied the chance to view the autopsy.

He said the report was "incomplete" and, although no alcohol was found in Jason's system, he was not tested for drugs.

The family requested a second autopsy in Australia after Jason's body was repatriated but were also denied access to view it once it was completed.

A spokesperson for the Queensland Coroners Court said the request to view the report was "regretfully denied" at the request of Fijian Police "due to an ongoing criminal investigation".

The spokesperson said a coronial investigation remained ongoing.

In an interview with Australian program 60 Minutes in September, Fiji Police Force (FPF) Assistant Commissioner Loraini Seru said the matter had been investigated as a possible murder.

Letters from the FPF Criminal Investigation Department to the Rigby family, seen by the ABC, confirmed Shivan Siwan was interviewed under caution as part of the investigation. Ms Siwan was released without charge.

The Fijian Office of the Director of Public Prosecution confirmed it was reviewing the police file relating to Jason's death and said a "decision will be made in due course".

Lack of communication

Chris and Jess said they'd had little support from agencies in Fiji or Australia throughout the past 22 months.

"There's been nothing from the Australian government, nobody from the [Australian Federal Police] or police force has ever contacted us," Chris said.

Freedom of Information documents obtained by the family and seen by the ABC confirm the Rigby family's main source of information came from consular officers via DFAT.

The family has paid for lawyers in Fiji and Australia, as well as a private investigator to help their search for answers.

"If we're not chasing it up, things don't happen,"

Jess said.

The family's lawyer in Fiji, Maria Raga, said the Rigbys should not have to bear that burden.

"To a remarkable degree, it is the family that have also carried this matter forward," Ms Raga said.

Legal expert and Bond University associate professor Terry Goldsworthy said one of the biggest obstacles families faced in similar scenarios was information sharing.

"In most jurisdictions in Australia, standard practice is to have a family liaison officer … a sole point of contact for information to flow in and out of the investigation," Dr Goldsworthy said.

He said although consular support had been offered by DFAT, it may take time for the Australian government to escalate the matter.

"If you're now seeing these public questions being asked, it's incumbent upon DFAT and the foreign minister to go and ask their counterparts in Fiji, 'Where is this at? What's going on? Please give us an update so we can tell the family,'" he said.

The ABC put questions to several authorities involved in the matter, including the FPF, Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Jason's former employer.

All said they were not in a position to comment, although the AFP said it had accepted a request by the FPF for support. It would not confirm when the request was made or accepted.

A DFAT spokesperson said it had been providing consular assistance to the family and regularly engaged Fijian authorities to seek updates.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong did not respond to questions about whether the Australian government planned to lobby the FPF and linked agencies for answers.