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The private lives and very public deaths of New Zealander
Greg Scrivener and his high-profile lover John Scott have become sensational
news in Fiji, which is awash with speculation. Among Suva's social set, it was no secret. John Scott and Greg Scrivener led double lives. The town's most notorious drug dealer and thief will tell you that. So will the educated professionals, associates and friends who schmoozed and supped bubbly with the gay couple at formal cocktail functions. Some of Suva's working class homosexuals know about it and the cops, too, are aware. Many who knew Scott, 53, and Scrivener, 39, say the side of life which the well-known couple kept hidden involved drug use and befriending young men. And it eventually killed them. In Suva, rumours about the gay pair -- a couple which kept more associates than close friends -- are rife. As one Fijian journalist pointed out, Scott was very good at keeping his public life public and his private life private. And so their deaths -- a motive for which is yet to be proven by police -- have fuelled daily rumour. John-John Ahkee, the Suva drug dealer who police initially took into custody for the murders and a longtime associate of Scott's, told the Sunday Star-Times the pair smoked marijuana -- Scrivener a lot more than Scott. Ahkee confirmed he was a constant visitor to their house -- minutes outside the city in the village of Tamavua -- and supplied them cannabis. Ahkee said he also saw adult and child pornographic magazines at the house and occasionally saw young boys and Fijian men in their early 20s hanging around there. He said he didn't know what went on but it was common in Suva for young boys to give sexual favours in return for money. Ahkee, who had an alibi for the time of the murders, was released by police after three days in the cells. "I would never do something evil like that. I totally respected John." What is clear is that shortly before their brutal murders -- they were hacked to death with a cane knife at their home on July 1 -- the pair had become uneasy. Scott penned an angry letter to Ahkee about goods which Ahkee allegedly stole. "I told the cops this, leading up to the deaths, that Greg changed. He used to buy a lot of my smoke, but he stopped buying two, three months ago and he told me to stop coming around. He was so uptight, so something was wrong. Somebody told me they were on coke." A Suva businessman and close friend of Scott's for the past 10 years remembers the last time they spoke. Scott was "stressed out" and believed he was in some sort of danger. "Put it this way, the last conversation I had, a lot of things came out which I will not mention to anyone. The topic headed towards his social life and I said to be careful with who he mixed with. He just went 'yeah'," said the businessman. "And when this happened, my memory just went back to this conversation we had and the advice I'd given him. He obviously hadn't taken it seriously." The businessman didn't know the couple's younger associates. "I was aware of it. Several times I'd go around for a drink and one or two would be sitting around. They'd be about 18, 20." He suspected the relationships were sexual. Scott would often point out good looking young men in the street and would try to befriend them. The businessman said he never questioned Scott about his relationships with the boys. Some say Scott and Scrivener also used to socialise with young men in small villages near Tamavua. Shoeshine boys in Suva's streets are rumoured to have given the couple sexual favours. One shoeshine teenager, Ben, said Scott used to give him and his friends money for food and would ask them to come to his home where he would pay them to wash his car and do other chores. The boy denied giving the couple sex. Scott and Scrivener were wealthy and had very open public lives in Suva. As Fiji Red Cross director, Scott socialised at Suva's high- brow black tie functions. Scrivener also attended. People knew they were gay but Scott occasionally brought along a female friend who acted as his partner. Friends believed this was so dignitaries wouldn't feel uncomfortable. Some of Suva's elite -- those who held top bureaucratic and diplomatic jobs -- would be invited occasionally to their large home for formal dinners. It was pure networking said Suva journalist Virisila Buadromo, who had known Scott for years. Scott's businessman friend, who attended these dinners, says Scott was a considerate host, who deliberately seated people next to strangers so they could meet. Scrivener was, however, more reserved and left most of the talking to Scott. Their two-storey house sits on sprawling grounds and has a commanding view over Suva harbour. This is not a typical Fijian home. Friends say it is filled with expensive, dark furniture. And Scott was very particular. "It was tidy. Very, very tidy. He'd clean up after everything," said the businessman friend. His orderliness extended to work. Scott was at his large Red Cross office at 7.30am on the dot. His desk and office were spotless -- not a book or pot plant was out of place. His desk calendar showed July 2 -- the Monday he was meant to return to work. Red Cross event manager Mareta Tovata remembers Scott as fastidious. He also had a wicked sense of humour. She regularly joked with him about the fact he was a leap year baby. "Last year, he actually turned 13. I would say, 'Scott, what do you know, you're only 13'. He would always laugh." Scott and Scrivener preferred to entertain at home. If they did drink in town, it was usually at Suva's popular bars, O'Reilly's, a pub which many gays went to, and Traps nightclub, which caters for the 20-something crowd. If they were in town for a function, they would have a drink or two at these places before going home. But if one was out of the country, the other was regularly seen at these bars drinking on Friday or Saturday night. One of O'Reilly's bar managers said he respected Scott, who was always polite. He attended the occasional party at their home but never got to know them well. It was well known around town that the couple led double lives, he said. He had heard rumours in the pub of them having teenage boys hanging around their home. He wouldn't be surprised if the relationships were sexual, simply because they were so guarded about this side of their life. Scott was highly respected in Suva's gay community but he was not active in gay rights. He would judge the occasional gay beauty pageant but was wary his sexuality might affect his working reputation. Peter Sipeli, a cafe worker and co-ordinator of Fiji's Sexual Minorities Project, said Scott had been helping him fundraise to send a contingent to Sydney's Gay Games next year. Sipeli liked Scott but said he and Scrivener operated on a different level to him. "They were rich gays, in public they mixed with the wealthy, but occasionally us as well. I've heard rumours about shady parties at their house but can't confirm them." The businessman friend would speak with Scott once a week, often have lunch in town with him, and they'd share personal stories. On weekends, the friend would often join Scott and Scrivener for a Sunday trip with friends out on their speedboat. They were a committed couple. Scott told friends they met in Auckland when Scrivener worked as a dishwasher at a restaurant. Scott had noticed him from the street and asked him out. It was Scott's first gay relationship after his marriage ended. But their personalities were contrasting. "Greg was sort of reserved to people John got to know well. If he liked you, he'd pick up the conversation but apart from that he'd just stay right away," said the businessman. "He was just possessive I guess. John was a very social person." Scrivener distributed Expozay, his brother-in-law's swimwear label, around Fijian hotels and shops. It appeared as much a hobby as a job. He preferred to spend time in the couple's garden, maintaining the property. Local photographer Peter Henning who knew Scott as an associate, said he'd taken photos of Scrivener and a female at a local hotel for a modelling shoot. Scott had turned up on the set out of the blue and just sat and watched. He believed it was because Scrivener was attractive and Scott didn't want him to stray. The couple was distinctive, but not "poofters" -- a name Fijians give to flamboyant gays. Buadromo remembers the couple as "classy". She remembers people gawking at them cruising through the streets of Suva in a jeep, dressed in smart clothes and sharp sunglasses. "Every Sunday, they'd drive around with the top up. They were a really good-looking couple, stunning." Apete Kaisau, 23, has been charged with the murders of Scott and Scrivener. A friend of Kaisau's family, who would not be identified, said Scott and Scrivener befriended Kaisau when he was a schoolboy and allegedly began a sexual relationship with him. Kaisau would stay with his aunt during the week because she lived closer to his school. Her house was near Scott and Scrivener's. Kaisau was sent to Auckland, according to police, on an education scholarship provided by the Fiji Affairs Board. The friend said Kaisau had played rugby for a North Harbour club. Police said he performed poorly at university in Auckland and before returning to Fiji was no longer receiving money from the board. The family friend claimed that when he returned, he mostly stayed in his bedroom and was withdrawn and paranoid and believed people in the village were talking about him. Fiji police senior superintendent Jahir Khan said police were investigating the couple's alleged relationships with young men. Khan said it was common for some young men in Suva to give sexual favours to men for money. Some of that money was passed on to families who did not question its origins. A rumour circulating in Suva is that Kaisau was deported from New Zealand in June after Scott informed on him for overstaying. Another possible motive was that Kaisau wanted the gay couple to stop selling drugs to youths in Tamavua. Police say they have revisited the murder scene with Kaisau. Both Scott and Scrivener were fatally knifed in the bedroom of their home, said police. |