Yvette Nikolic staring down possibility of life in Fiji women’s prison
YVETTE Nikolic is staring down the possibility of life in a Fiji jail after being arrested with her husband, former horse trainer John Nikolic, on drugs charges. EXCLUSIVE PICTURES: See Ms Nikolic settling into prison life.
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AUSTRALIAN woman Yvette Nikolic is staring down the possibility of life in a Fiji jail after being arrested with her husband, former horse trainer John Nikolic, on drugs charges.
Fiji police, who declared they’d seized drugs, $20,000 in cash and guns in a raid on the couple’s luxury yacht Shenanigans, say the duo’s arrest should serve as a warning to others “planning to carry out such illicit trade”.
Today, the Herald Sun can reveal exclusive photographs of Ms Nikolic settling into life on remand in Lautoka women’s jail. Wearing a tan prison smock and purple thongs, she was seen mingling with other inmates.
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MORE EXCLUSIVE PICTURES BELOW
Fijian criminal lawyer Aman Ravindra-Singh told the Herald Sun the couple would likely spend multiple years in jail if they were convicted.
In Fiji, drug possession can attract both jail and hefty fines: the maximum penalty is life in jail, a fine of up to $1 million, or both.
“If the evidence is there … based on past cases, it would definitely be a prison sentence,” Mr Ravindra-Singh said.
He said Sydney man Joseph Abourizk was sentenced to 14 years’ jail in 2016 for possessing almost 50kg of cocaine.
Fijian police say they found 13 bars of cocaine and 65 ecstasy pills, as well as guns and $20,000 in cash, during a raid last week on the Nikolics’ luxury yacht.
Acting Commissioner of Police Rusiate Tudravu said on Thursday: “We are not going to allow anyone to think they can come in and out of our borders and use it as a transit point or a destination to exercise their illegal dealings, and this should send a strong warning to others that we have a close eye on our borders.
“The collaboration between stakeholders continues to strengthen, and the seizure is a testament of this.”
The Nikolics’ yacht had now been forfeited to the state, Acting Commissioner Tudravu said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra has confirmed it is providing consular assistance to the two Australians. A spokesman said DFAT would not comment further, owing to its privacy obligations.
Consular assistance may include visits to prisons to monitor welfare, liaison with local authorities regarding the Australians’ wellbeing, providing lists of local lawyers, and assisting with communicating with family members or other nominated contacts.
DFAT does not provide legal advice, intervene in legal cases, or get Australians out of prison.
Ms Nikolic is due to appear at the Lautoka High Court on July 4.
— with Claire Bickers
YVETTE NIKOLIC: FROM PARADISE TO PURGATORY
DRESSED in a shapeless tan prison smock, her long blonde hair in a ponytail, Yvette Nikolic cut a lonely figure in Fiji’s Lautoka jail this week.
Her husband, Melbourne horse trainer John Nikolic, is still in intensive care in nearby Lautoka Hospital, following a raid on the couple’s yacht last week during which local police claim they seized a multimillion-dollar haul of drugs, as well as guns.
Ms Nikolic, 42, her fair hair and skin making her easily distinguishable from other inmates, was seen walking out of a cell block and lining up with other prisoners to wash a metal food tray.
She appeared anxious and seemed to be letting other prisoners take turns at the communal sink ahead of her.
But she was not among prisoners who were later ordered to sweep the prison paths with straw brooms.
A guard, who referred to Ms Nikolic as “the Australian lady inside”, said conditions in the recently constructed prison, which houses 24 women on remand and 24 longer-term prisoners, were good.
Inmates were well fed, and had a daily medical check, the guard said.
The prison, which boasts expansive manicured lawns, is on the outskirts of town, between scenic hills covered in lush, tropical vegetation and the ocean.
Not far away, tourists sit by pools at beachfront hotels sipping rum cocktails from coconuts, and boats take them out on island-hopping day trips.
The sound of children playing at nearby schools would carry to the jail, but inmates can’t see them.
Ms Nikolic is able to look up to the hills, but high walls and coils of barbed wire now block the sea views she told friends she loves.
And of course the freedom she enjoyed just a week ago, sailing the Pacific on a luxury yacht, have been stripped from her as she waits on remand on drugs charges.
Ms Nikolic’s brother-in-law, jockey Danny Nikolic, and her parents-in-law Karen and John Sr, are the only people on her prison list of approved visitors.
The Herald Sun saw all three of them leaving Lautoka Hospital, but they declined to comment when asked about the condition of Mr Nikolic, who was rushed to the intensive care unit last Thursday.
It is understood he downed a toxic cocktail of liquid cocaine mixed with methamphetamine during or after the raid on the yacht. His current condition remains unknown.
Fiji’s Revenue and Customs Service has said the raid on the yacht Shenanigans found 13 bars of cocaine worth as much as $20 million, 65 ecstasy tablets and $20,000 of undeclared cash, along with a revolver and a Smith and Wesson and 97 bullets.
The couple had bought the yacht last year to sail the tropical Pacific islands on what they had called the “adventure of a lifetime”.
Maps show they travelled to Colombia in South America, to Panama, and then set sail across the Pacific.
Fiji’s Customs chief Visvanath Das said authorities had dutifully exposed and put a stop to “a smuggling attempt” by intercepting and raiding the boat.
Mr Das told the Herald Sun that Customs had “assisted with intelligence information” in finding and seizing the drugs on the yacht.
“Through the profiling and targeting done by Customs Drug Enforcement Unit, it was determined that Customs needed to carry out a rummage of the yacht,” he said.
“The search was headed by FRCS … we extended an invitation to the Fiji police force, Biosecurity Authority of Fiji and the Ministry of Health to join us on the rummage.”
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