Hero cop chief foils robbery with a chair

Fiji's recently appointed police chief has displayed his crime-busting credentials in dramatic fashion, fighting off a gang of robbers at a Suva restaurant with just a folding chair.

Police boss Ben Groenewald said instinct kicked in during the incident on Thursday night, which left him with wounds requiring 13 stitches after one of the attackers hurled a wine bottle at his head.

Groenewald, a South African who took the Fiji job last year, said he was at a private function at the rear of the restaurant when he heard a commotion near the front.

Initially thinking "it was a drunken person", the 65-year-old went to investigate and offer his help. But what he found is a robber gang of five members.

After his intervention, they fled, but not before one threw a wine bottle at Groenewald's head.

Groenewald is a career cop who served for more than 40 years in South Africa, where murder and other violent crimes are common, before accepting the role in the usually tranquil Pacific island nation.