June 2 (UPI) — A novelist and poet from the island nation of Samoa has been arrested and charged with slaying fellow writer Caroline Sinavaiana-Gabbard, the aunt of U.S. politician Tulsi Gabbard.
Papalii Sia Figiel, 57, allegedly stabbed Sinavaiana-Gabbard multiple times and beat her with a hammer after an argument at the GaluMoana Theater in Vaivase-Uta on May 25, the Samoa Global News and Hawaii News Now reported.
Figiel fled to a friend’s house after the incident and was later arrested on suspicion of manslaughter before her charges were upgraded to murder.
“It wasn’t until Sunday morning while they were having breakfast that Papalii told her friend what had happened,” Police Commissioner Auapaau Logoitino Filipo said. Figiel then turned herself in.
Sinavaiana-Gabbard’s body was later found at Figiel’s home, Samoa Global News reported. The New Zealand Herald clarified that Figiel’s home doubles as the GaluMoana Theater.
The exact motive for the killing remains unclear but both women were highly accomplished for their writing and academics.
Figiel’s poetry won the Polynesian Literary Competition in 1994 and her bestselling novel Where We Once Belonged won a regional writing prize for the best first book by an author in 1997. Her works have been translated into at least eight languages.
Sinavaiana-Gabbard was a retired professor of English at the University of Hawaii and has been credited as the first Samoan to become a full professor in the United States. She had received awards for teaching and her writings were widely published.
“Caroline was my best friend as a teenager,” Hawaiian State Sen. Mike Gabbard, the brother of Sinavaiana-Gabbard and father of Tulsi Gabbard, told Spectrum News. “She helped me considerably during my rebellious stage of adolescence.”
