Tennessee Man 39 Accused Of Beating His New Bride To Death On Their Honeymoon In Fiji Has Been Granted No Bail

Bradley Dawson, 39, appeared in the Lautoka High Court on Wednesday afternoon (local time). He is accused of murdering Christe Chen, 36, on July 9. Dawson, from Memphis, allegedly beat Chen to death at the secluded $3,500-a-night Turtle Island Resort just two days after they checked in for their honeymoon. Her brutally beaten body was found slumped in the small space between the toilet and the wall of the bungalow’s bathroom. Bradley Dawson was seen on Wednesday arriving for his bail hearing in Lautoka, Fiji’s second largest city Dawson is accused of murdering his new wife, Christe Chen, on July 9 The Tennessee businessman was denied bail by a judge on Wednesday Dawson’s lawyers suggested he stay at the home of a US citizen living in Fiji pending trial – but the man is charged with rape and the judge said the deal was unsatisfactory Chen and Dawson, who met in November 2021, tied the knot after a whirlwind romance three months later. She was found dead just two days after her honeymoon at the elite private resort, paid for by her parents – who were regulars there. On Wednesday, Dawson’s lawyers asked the court to allow him to live at home and care for a fellow American, John Berger, as he awaited trial. Berger, a pastor who has a home in the Nadi area, has lived in Fiji since 2011. She met Dawson when the pair spent two weeks together behind bars at Natabua Detention Centre. Berger is charged with at least three counts of rape. Judge Riyaz Hamza rejected his request, saying it was “highly unsatisfactory” to recommend Dawson remain in the custody of another person accused of a crime. The defense team had nominated two women as sureties, both of whom were described as family friends of Dawson’s. But Hamza said Dawson’s team had not provided satisfactory evidence of a long-term relationship between Dawson, Berger or the two sureties. A medical examiner ruled Chen’s death a homicide and found she suffered a traumatic brain injury caused by a brain hemorrhage, severe traumatic head injuries and multiple traumatic injuries to her body. Her body was so badly injured that she could not be embalmed and was cremated before her parents took her ashes to the US. At a court appearance two weeks ago, Dawson pleaded not guilty as she denied confessing to her murder during his arrest. Police said Dawson made a statement but later retracted it when he sought legal advice. Chen’s death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner, who found that she died of traumatic brain injury caused by bleeding on the brain, severe traumatic head injuries and multiple blunt force trauma to her body. Chen’s body was so badly beaten that she could not be embalmed, and her parents had to cremate her before bringing her ashes back to the United States. It lights up with Dawson Dawson claimed he used a kayak to paddle 1.2 miles from Turtle Island Resort to Matacawalevu Island on the night of Saturday July 9. The kayak was never found His lawyers also claimed he never confessed to the attack – despite police claims – and called for him to be granted bail In the unsigned statement presented in court two weeks ago, Dawson allegedly told police that on the night of Chen’s death, the two were at a beach party with staff and other guests at the resort. “Christe started to eat some shots and I went to drink some kava (a traditional Fijian drink) and dance to the fun. “Then Christe and I went back to the bure (cabin). “On the way back, we argued about something, which I couldn’t remember because we were really drunk.” He added that the pair then changed beds and when he tried to hug her she became angry and questioned whether she wanted to be with him. “Our fight went to the bathroom… and that’s when Christe pushed me and that’s when I lost it and we had a fight. It just seemed like it was bad. “He broke the back of the toilet, he broke the window glass and the toilet was a mess. When the fight was over, Kriste was in the bathroom next to the toilet. She was hurt and she was sitting with blood and cuts on her face,” Dawson allegedly told officers, according to the unsigned statement read in court. Dawson and Chen married in February after a whirlwind romance, three months after they first met and her parents had paid for their honeymoon. On the night Chen died, she and Dawson had attended a party – billed as a “family fun night” – with island staff and other beach guests where they were both “very drunk”. Witnesses exclusively told DailyMail.com that tensions flared between the pair when Dawson began misbehaving with someone else at the party. “They were having fun and drinking a lot, but towards the end they looked troubled,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Dawson disappeared after Chen’s body was discovered by hotel staff. Turtle Island Resort is located on a small island of the same name off the coast of mainland Fiji. The resort is known as one of the most luxurious in paradise island Remote Turtle Island Resort is located on a private island off the coast of Fiji It is understood the pair then left the party and their argument continued on the beach before returning to their private bungalow at around midnight where the fight continued. “Not long after this, guests in the bungalow next door said they heard fighting, a loud scream and then silence,” a source told DailyMail.com. DailyMail.com revealed that Chen was found covered in blood on the bathroom floor by a personal butler around noon. She had suffered multiple traumatic injuries to her body and shoulders, facial injuries and blunt force trauma to the head, according to an autopsy report. A source told DailyMail.com that the toilet cistern lid was cracked and broken. The couple’s personal butler found her body crumpled and slumped between the tiny space between the toilet and the wall, badly beaten and covered in blood, according to sources. A lawyer for Chen’s family, Ronald Gordon, told DailyMail.com that her body was so badly beaten that she could not be embalmed and her parents had to cremate her before bringing her ashes back to the United States. He added that she suffered such deep cuts on both sides of her head, near her eyes, that embalming fluid would have leaked out. On the night Chen was killed, Dawson was seen walking across Turtle Island in the early hours of the morning by the night watchman, before returning to the private bungalow. Dawson left his GPS watch and mobile phone in the bungalow, but took his wallet and passport before leaving the water, 1.2 miles away on a secluded beach on Matacawa Levu Island. Gordon said it suggested he had headed for the mainland – which is about two or three hours away by ferry – in the hope of leaving Fiji. But Dawson never got that far and was discovered – with cuts and bruises – at about 3pm on July 10 by a local man as he walked towards the island village. Monoa Ratulele, 49, told DailyMail.com that Dawson told him he was using a kayak to paddle to the island between 2am and 3am on Saturday after he got into a fight with Chen. Monoa Ratulele, told DailyMail.com that when he encountered Dawson, he was bruised and bleeding from his palms and feet, injuries that may have been caused by falling on nearby coral. Dawson also “appeared disturbed”, so Ratulele offered him water and help The kayak Dawson claimed to have been on has never been found, according to Chen’s family attorney. By the time Dawson turned up, he had been missing for 36 hours and police had been searching for him since the couple’s personal butler found Chen dead and covered in blood on the bathroom floor and raised the alarm with Turtle Island Resort management. It appears a manager, who had attended the same party as the couple the night before, called the Fiji Police in the nearby town of Lautoka, just under an hour from Nadi International Airport. Ratulele, from the nearby island of Matacawa Levu, told DailyMail.com that when he encountered Dawson he was bruised and bleeding from his palms and feet – injuries which may have been caused by falling on nearby coral. Dawson also “appeared disturbed”, so Ratulele offered him water and help. “At first he kept refusing food and water and insisted he was fine, but I insisted he had some water and then he said – Please, I have to call the police,” Ratulele said, adding that Dawson was drunk. “He didn’t tell us he killed his wife, but I could still smell the alcohol on him. He kept repeating that we “argued” and offered no beginning or end to this story, just saying “we argued.” Ratulele said he was concerned because the entire Yasawa Islands complex is full of resorts and tourists are often found on the blue-water beaches the area is known for – but visitors to the Turtle Island Resort are rarely seen wandering off the island. “I was a bit worried because these are very rich people, we don’t find them on our beaches. We take backpackers snorkelers and surfers but not people from Turtle Island. It’s a rarity around here. These are millionaires and they’re never far from the resort,” he told DailyMail.com. A team of three officers soon arrived on Matacawa Levu Island to take Dawson back to Turtle Island and then to Lautoka on Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu, where he was charged with murder. Once he hired an attorney, Dawson refused to provide DNA samples to officers. When news broke of Chen’s brutal murder, Turtle Island Resort representatives confirmed the incident in a statement to DailyMail.com, saying: “We can…