Australian woman and 3-year-old son stabbed to death in Kiribati

An Australian woman and her three-year-old son have been killed in the Pacific Island nation of Kiribati.

Sarah Moses, 46, and her son Jack were found stabbed to death on Saturday in their Betio home.

Kiribati police told Guardian Australia they had arrested a man suspected of killing Moses and Jack. The suspect is a member of Moses’s extended family.

No charges have been laid but acting commanding officer Nakibwae Rateki said the investigation was ongoing and he expected it to proceed to prosecution.

Police had reportedly said the case was likely domestic violence related.

Moses, who was originally from Hobart, was married to Nauruan man Bryce Moses. The couple were married in 2013 and were parents to Jack.

On Thursday staff of the Kiribati Institute of Technology, where Moses was director, went to the Bonriki airport to farewell Moses as her body was taken back to Australia.

Moses had previously worked for the Tasmanian government, for the federal finance department and for the International Monetary Fund in Afghanistan, the Hobart Mercury reported.

“Sarah was a much-loved and respected colleague in the Tasmanian public service,’’ the Tasmanian department of premier and cabinet acting secretary, Jenny Gale, said. “This will come as shocking news to many in our community and our thoughts are with her family and her friends.”

The Mercury reported the Kiribati president, Taneti Maamau, and Australia’s high commissioner to Kiribati, Bruce Cowled, were among those to attend Moses’s funeral on Tuesday.

(ABC)