Melbourne, Australia - A man from Memphis, Tennessee, was sentenced to jail for murdering his wife during his honeymoon in Fiji in 2022, a court official said Friday.

Bradley Robert Dawson, 40, must serve at least 18 years in prison before being released before being released, Fauge Superior Court Registration Office officials said.

Dawson was convicted in December of murdering his wife, Christe Chen, at the time of 36, at the exclusive Turtle Island resort in the Yasawa Islands two days after the newlyweds arrived in the South Pacific country. He then fled to a kayak to a nearby island.

He was sentenced by Judge Riyaz Hamza on Wednesday.

Hamza told Dawson that he showed Chen's right to life and her personal freedom ignored.

“Your behavior after the incident was shocking. According to the Fiji Times, Hanza said: “Disposing serious and life-threatening injuries, you fled the crime scene, leaving the deceased alone helpless. ”

After hearing the couple quarrel, Chen's body was in the couple's room, with multiple blunt trauma on her head and did not appear for breakfast or lunch the next day.

Dawson pleaded not guilty to the charge and was tried within eight days.

Fiji Broadcasting Corporation reported that his attorney Anil Prasad told the court that prosecutors failed to convict Dawson by convicting sufficient evidence.

Prasad said that despite prosecutors claiming Dawson plans to flee Fiji, authorities have failed to admit that many of the couple's personal property remained at the resort.

Prasad also said Dawson was not injured, suggesting he had had a physical dispute with his wife.

But the judge said he was satisfied with the crimes committed by Dawson and no one else.

Under Fijian law, prisoners can apply for parole after the minimum term set by the court, although the parole board does not currently contain a parole board. Critics argue that the lack of effective parole options is the cause of prison overcrowding.

David Naylor, an expert on Pacific Law and Regulation at National University of Australia, gave a speech in Fiji, saying Dawson can apply to the National Mercy Council for amnesty from the Fiji president after serving 18 years in prison. release.

Nayler said he could also apply for his life sentence to be reduced to a fixed term, which would set a release date.

Dawson works in the Information Technology Department of the nonprofit child welfare and support organization Youth Village in Memphis. Online records searches show no criminal arrests in Shelby County, including Memphis.

The Turtle Island Resort where the two live is an exclusive remote 500-acre island that only accommodates 14 couples at a time. Yasawa is about 20 volcanic islands in western Fiji, a country of 930,000 people.