The mother of a New Zealander murdered in Fiji during 2001, Pamela Mary Swifte Nevins (Scott), 90 died in Wanganui on Sunday.
Her surviving son, Owen Scott, who was born in Fiji, told FijiVillage.com that his mother always had very fond memories of Fiji, and he was planning to incorporate something Fijian in her New Zealand funeral.
Ms Nevins was also the mother of the former director-general of the Fiji Red Cross, John Scott, who was murdered with his partner, Greg Scrivener, in their Suva home.
The two men were reported to have had an earlier relationship with their alleged killer, Apete Kaisau, who was found to be culpable for the murders and but was later pronounced not guilty by reason of insanity.
Owen Scott wrote a book, Deep Beyond the Reef, on the murder of his older brother and the subsequent investigation, and co-wrote a documentary film, An Island Calling, with New Zealand filmmaker Annie Goldson, who described Ms Nevins as a "great survivor".
Goldson said killing a Scott in Fiji was "a bit like shooting Princess Diana", though her film portrayed the father of Owen and John, Suva lawyer Sir Maurice Scott, the former Speaker of the Fiji Parliament and a prominent criminal lawyer, as a womaniser.
Ms Nevins spoke candidly in the film about having to escape the marriage and returning with the boys to New Zealand. "Was he a bully?" a friend asked her of Sir Maurice. "Oh yes," she replied.
An alcoholic, Sir Maurice died in 1977.
The film set the story of the family and the killing in the context of Fiji's post-colonial history, and claimed that Sitiveni Rabuka's 1987 coup ignited a wave of religious fundamentalism.
The film showed footage of the police commissioner in charge of the murder investigation making anti-homosexual and disparaging remarks about Scott and Scrivener's lifestyle. The documentary implied Kaisau became deeply ashamed of his own homosexual tendencies and tormented over his apparent rejection by John Scott, and Mr Scrivener, who had stopped him visiting their home.
A funeral service for Ms Nevins will be held at St. Chad's, Wanganui, on Thursday.
