The Tennessee newlywed charged in the beating death of his wife on their honeymoon in Fiji is claiming it was an “accident,” according to his lawyer.
Bradley Robert Dawson, 38, is charged with murdering his pharmacist wife Christe Chen, 36, whose body was found in an exclusive scenic Fiji resort in the Yasawa Islands on July 9, two days after checking in.
The new bride had been found by a butler in a pool of blood in the Memphis couple’s bungalow, dead from multiple traumatic injuries, including blunt force trauma to the head, according to a post-mortem report viewed by DailyMail.com.
The groom was not found until the next day, having kayaked to a remote island more than a mile away in the early hours, the outlet said. He would not cooperate when asked for DNA samples, the outlet said.
One local told the Mail that the newlyweds had fought the day Chen died, saying, “There was a heated argument.”
However, Dawson’s attorney, Iqbal Khan, insisted to the same outlet that despite gruesome reports of her death “there is no way he can be convicted of murder.”
“On the evidence that they have presented so far, there’s no proof of the charge of murder with intention to kill or premeditation. Nothing of that sort whatsoever,” he insisted of the new husband.
“On the face of it, it looks like an accident,” he said.
The attorney said the IT specialist had been too distraught initially to discuss his new wife’s death.
“Something surprising happened … he was really distressed when it happened,” Khan reportedly said.
“Last week he was in a desperate condition but he’s picking up now. It is a horrendous thing to happen on your honeymoon,” he stressed.
“All his family and friends are devastated, because he was a nice quiet fellow. He’s never been involved with the law before and then this happened. This is something new,” he reportedly said.
While on honeymoon this month, the couple wed in February after a “whirlwind romance,” friends told The Daily Beast.
Dawson remains in custody with a court hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
