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Marau’s lawyer applies for bail variation

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BY ROMINAH FAKA

The case of former member of parliament for Ulawa/Ugi Constituency William Bradford Marau adjourn to March 18 for defence to print its bail variation application and sworn statement.

The prosecution informed court last week that disclosures have been served to the defence counsel.

Magistrate Emily Vagibule Pakoa adjourned the matter to March 18. Bail for Marau was extended.

Marau is facing one count of conversion in relation to the allegation of misappropriation of $5 million designated to shipping funds in 2016.

On April 27, 2017 constituency report was submitted to National Criminal Investigation Department which they investigated following that particular reported submitted.

Prosecution alleged from the investigation it was revealed that on January 22, 2016, Government deposited $ 5million into Ulawa Constituency account with Bank of South Pacific (BSP) for shipping fund.

It was further alleged that on February 17, 2016 the defendant instructed the BSP Bank to transfer the entire sum of $5 million into his own personal account with ANZ Bank.

Prosecution also said 65 withdrawals which total to $6,023,326.70 were made from the defendant’s personal account.

In addition to that, 10 withdrawals amounting to $4,550,000 deposited into the business account of Aslan Stationaries with ANZ a private company owned by the defendant.

And at the end of 2016 the remaining balance in the defendant personal account was $27,868.87.

Office of Public Prosecution act for the Crown and Rano& Company law firm act for the defendant.

Trial against 62-yo man accused of indecent act on grand-daughter set for May 6

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BY ROMINAH FAKA

Trial into the case against a man accused of indecent act on a juvenile, 10, has been set to begin on May 6.

Yesterday during the interim-mention both defence and prosecution informed the court they had no issues.

The 62-year-old defendant, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, faces one count of indecent act on child under 15.

In the previous hearing the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge.  

Court suspended the matter to March 28 for another interim-mention. Remand warrant for the accused was extended.

Prosecution alleged on September 11, 2023 between 7 and 9pm at a village in Gao Bugotu district, Isabel Province, the victim and her brother were at home playing in the living room.

During that time only the victim, her brother and their grandfather (the defendant) were there.

The victim’s mother had gone out.

The victim and her brother were sleeping in their bedroom when the defendant allegedly called the victim to go to him.

The defendant allegedly led the victim to their kitchen, a few metres away, and took off her shirt and trousers and committed the indecent act on her.

The victim felt pain and was afraid so she kept quiet after the accused told her not to tell her mother.

Around 9pm the mother returned and found her daughter still awake, and asked her what was wrong.

The victim relayed everything to her mother.

The matter was reported to Buala Police Station and the accused was arrested.

DPP act for State and PSO act for Accused.

Trial against 62-yo man accused of indecent act on grand-daughter set for May 6

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BY ROMINAH FAKA

Trial into the case against a man accused of indecent act on a juvenile, 10, has been set to begin on May 6.

Yesterday during the interim-mention both defence and prosecution informed the court they had no issues.

The 62-year-old defendant, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, faces one count of indecent act on child under 15.

In the previous hearing the accused pleaded not guilty to the charge.  

Court suspended the matter to March 28 for another interim-mention. Remand warrant for the accused was extended.

Prosecution alleged on September 11, 2023 between 7 and 9pm at a village in Gao Bugotu district, Isabel Province, the victim and her brother were at home playing in the living room.

During that time only the victim, her brother and their grandfather (the defendant) were there.

The victim’s mother had gone out.

The victim and her brother were sleeping in their bedroom when the defendant allegedly called the victim to go to him.

The defendant allegedly led the victim to their kitchen, a few metres away, and took off her shirt and trousers and committed the indecent act on her.

The victim felt pain and was afraid so she kept quiet after the accused told her not to tell her mother.

Around 9pm the mother returned and found her daughter still awake, and asked her what was wrong.

The victim relayed everything to her mother.

The matter was reported to Buala Police Station and the accused was arrested.

DPP act for State and PSO act for Accused.

Malaita PPC calls for unity despite political differences

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PPC Malaita, superintendent Lesley Kili.

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

PROVINCIAL Police Commander of Malaita, Superintendent Lesley Kili has called on Malaitans to embrace unity despite their political differences.

Kili made the call during a community policing awareness programme at Fulisango CHS in the highlands of Central Kwara’ae on Tuesday this week as politics intensifies in the province.

He said the joint elections is just around the corner and politics is the current topic of debate everywhere across the province.

The PPC however appealed to Malaitans to respect each other’s political differences and not to allow politics to cause division among themselves.

“As we are heading toward the national general election, I call on all Malaitans to embrace each other by according respect to both voters and candidates.

“Soon candidates will be visiting your communities, as some had already started to share their share their ideas with you on their intention to take up leadership.

“They will have differing ideas or some might have contradicting views to yours, but allow them share what they want to share,” he said.

Kili said Malaitans must have positive mindsets and approaches towards making these elections a peaceful hallmark event for the province.

He said police have very limited resources to ensure the safety of everyone and election processes for the province.

Kili said although RSIPF will step up their work during the election, they want support from public for a successful election for the province and the country.

Firearm case adjourns

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BY ROMINAH FAKA

The case against a man accused of being in possession of a firearm without licence has been adjourned for April 10.

Iro Kwaita is facing one count of possession of firearm without licence.

The matter was adjourned after prosecution informed court during yesterday’s interim-mention about a clash in schedule regarding the proposed trial date on May 20.

The prosecutor in charge of the case said she would be prosecuting an appeal case on that date at the Court of Appeal.

Prosecution requested the magistrates court to set a new date for the trial.

Court instructed the prosecutor to discuss with the defence counsel an appropriate date and to inform court in the next mention.

Prosecution also informed court that they are yet to receive any feedback from the weapon which they had sent to Australia for tests.

Allegations said between September 1 and November 30, 2021, the accused had in his possession a firearm or an ammunition while he did not have the licence to do so.

The matter was reported to the Central Police Station on December 9, 2021 and the accused apprehended and charged.

DPP acts for the Crown and PSO acts for the accused.

Case of former BSP teller adjourns

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BY ROMINAH FAKA

The case against a former Bank South Pacific (BSP) teller has been adjourned for March 20.

Tessa Solenone Rore, 31, is accused for two counts of larceny by servant and one count of forgery of certain documents with intention to defraud.

Sentencing and mitigation was supposed to have been done yesterday.

However, defence told court it has not printed its submission to give to court. Prosecution was also absent.

Prosecution had given instructions that it wished to make an oral submission in court.

Court then adjourned the matter, granting prosecution its request and instructing defence to submit its written submission in the next hearing.

Court also requested both counsels to submit their agreed facts.

Bail for the accused was extended, and she is required to appear in court Wednesday next week.

Allegation said Rore was employed as a Money Gram Teller at the Bank of South Pacific Limited (BSP), Central Honiara branch, since April 16, 2015.

The allegations against the accused arose when BSP customers made an enquiry to the bank about suspicious withdrawals and deposits in or from their personal bank accounts in 2020. The accused was removed from the till and the BSP Operational Risk Unit conducted an internal assessment.

It was discovered that the shortage amount from the till was around $400,000.

The accused allegedly took out money from the till or drawer, which resulted in cash shortages and she would do withdrawals from customer’s accounts to balance the till at the end of each business day.

Prosecution adds that on the next business day, she would deposit the money back to the customer’s account from the till.

It has been discovered that the accused had done these fraudulent transactions on 40 customers’ accounts since April, 2020.

According to the investigation report, the total amount the accused stole from the till is about $500,000. 

In August 2020, the accused was officially terminated from her employment.

Jonathan Auga of DPP Office acts for the State and Emy Rusi of PSO acts for the Accused.

Auki police arrest 62-yo man over brewing and selling kwaso

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BY SAMIE WAIKORI

AUKI police have arrested a 62-year-old man from Aligegeo village near Auki town for illegal brewing and selling of kwaso.

The arrest on Tuesday this week was made after a tip-off from a community member, who collaborated with police resulting in the apprehension of the suspect. 

Malaita PPC Superintendent Lesley Kili said yesterday the suspect had been under their radar as a suspected kwaso producer at the Tiki area, one of the kwaso hotspots in Auki.

He said on Tuesday morning, the informer alerted police that the suspect was on his way to Auki with a bag of kwaso products.

Kili said the suspect was walking towards the LF fuel station when police caught up with him.

He said police invited the suspect to the station where they searched his bag and found a thousand dollars’ worth of kwaso products.

Kili said the suspect was arrested and placed in custody. The suspect was released on bail yesterday awaiting court today.

He said the suspect will be charged with being in possession of illegal substances or in this case the kwaso product in public.

Kili warned that Auki police has made similar arrests in the past where people were charged, and police will continue to hunt down kwaso production in Auki and the province.

PWDSI hopeful of mental health bill’s passage with new government

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PWDSI CEO, Casper Faasala

BY INDY MAEALASIA

THE People with Disability Solomon Islands (PWDSI) has expressed eagerness and hope that the new government to come into power will pass the Mental Health Bill.

PWDSI CEO, Caper Fa’asala made this comment during the country’s first ever Psycho-social workshop on Tuesday.

“We want to emphasise the need to quickly look at the Mental health bill. As you might have known, we had helped the government in reviewing the disability policy and that we had even paid for consultants to do that to support the government,” Mr Fa’asala said.

Advocating for more inclusions, recognition and the removal of stigmas that surrounds disabilities, Fa’asala assured the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) that the organisation is willing to commit in any way with MHMS to ensure the bill will be passed in parliament soon.

Fa’asala also hoped that in partnership with the MHMS and other stakeholders they will collaboratively push for social benefit policy to alleviate the wellbeing of people with disabilities and old-age citizens. 

Meanwhile, with elections just over a month away and political parties campaigning in full force, promising to bring changes in various sectors including health, Fa’asala is concerned with how the new government will prioritise citizens living with disabilities. 

“I see and hear that most of them had made broad statement but they had not explained how will that statement be implemented,” he said.

Fa’asala added that though they have manifestos and policies if their candidates successfully secure seats, they might not prioritize mental health.  

“That is what I am worried about, we want to encourage parties to be more inclusive not only in their policy statement but in their executive as well,” he said.

Fa’asala hoped that political parties in the future would have more members with disabilities to ensure their concerns are heard at the highest level of government.

“They need to have people with disabilities in their executive so that when they form the coalition surely, under the coalition they would seat in the advisory level to advise government on matters concerning people with disabilities,” he added.  

Marau’s lawyer applies for bail variation

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BY ROMINAH FAKA

The case of former member of parliament for Ulawa/Ugi Constituency William Bradford Marau adjourn to March 18 for defence to print its bail variation application and sworn statement.

The prosecution informed court yesterday that disclosures have been served to the defence counsel.

Magistrate Emily Vagibule Pakoa adjourned the matter to March 18. Bail for Marau was extended.

Marau is facing one count of conversion in relation to the allegation of misappropriation of $5 million designated to shipping funds in 2016.

On April 27, 2017 constituency report was submitted to National Criminal Investigation Department which they investigated following that particular reported submitted.

Prosecution alleged from the investigation it was revealed that on January 22, 2016, Government deposited $ 5million into Ulawa Constituency account with Bank of South Pacific (BSP) for shipping fund.

It was further alleged that on February 17, 2016 the defendant instructed the BSP Bank to transfer the entire sum of $5 million into his own personal account with ANZ Bank.

Prosecution also said 65 withdrawals which total to $6,023,326.70 were made from the defendant’s personal account.

In addition to that, 10 withdrawals amounting to $4,550,000 deposited into the business account of Aslan Stationaries with ANZ a private company owned by the defendant.

And at the end of 2016 the remaining balance in the defendant personal account was $27,868.87.

Office of Public Prosecution act for the Crown and Rano& Company law firm act for the defendant.

NDMO SILENCE

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Director of National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), Jonathan Tafiariki

Anxiety grows for disaster stricken populace of Sikaiana island, no signs of promised relief ship

BY NED GAGAHE

It has been more than two months since huge waves washed over Sikaiana island, damaging houses and gardens.

Since then, there has been no relief ship sent by the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), despite a promise made by the NDMO director to the Sikaiana Honiara-based community that the NDMO would send one.

The NDMO has been silent since, with senior officials passing the buck around when asked to give answers to the concerned public.

The Director of NDMO, Jonathan Tafiariki, has not responded to enquiries sent him by this paper.

The planned trip Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR) operation for the Malaita Outer Islands of Sikaiana and Ontong Java (MOI) is yet to set sail.

Two weeks ago NDMO promised to deploy a HADR team there.

NDMO said the trip preparation was underway pending payment of food relief and the logistics to deliver the supplies.

It said MOI relief is being prioritized over other pending relief including that for Guadalcanal, Makira, Central and Isabel Provinces. Noting MOI is a remote and hard to reach location, the access to goods and services, and transportation to Honiara is very challenging.

NDMO made the assurance that it is doing all it can to deliver on the humanitarian imperatives pending availability of resources.

However, the paper understands that it is now two weeks and the trip ship is yet to set sail.

Several attempts since last week the paper made to get a response and update from NDMO on the matter proved unsuccessful.

Tera Tavao, a Sikaiana community member in Honiara, told Island Sun yesterday that they made several attempts to talk to NDMO officials including the director but nothing was forthcoming.

“We try to talk to them but they are not answering us. At the moment we are waiting for a charted boat by a private businessman on 15th March 2024.

“It seems that the ship NDMO promised us is no longer available. They (NDMO) refused to answer us on this regard.

“We called several times to the responsible officers but the respond we got is they always relayed our calls to the NDMO Director. When we call the director, he is not answering our calls.

“At the moment we are left in the dark, there is no feedback and confirmation we received from NDMO So, we just no longer trust them to send a boat to our island of Sikaiana.” He said.

Instead, Mr. Tavao said they will be using proceeds from their fundraising efforts and donations to buy food supplies to be sent over on the charted ship next week.

The NDMO was pressured to assess reports of widespread destruction on Sikaiana atoll caused by huge waves that hit the Island almost eight weeks ago.

Their issue had sprung to light after a distress call for help was initially intercepted by Vanikoro radio in Temotu Province.

The report was then relayed to women in Lata before it was shared with individuals in Honiara.

Social media platform YUMI TOKTOK FORUM has forwarded the message to NDMO urging them to dispatch a boat or helicopter to verify the validity of the report to ensure safety and wellbeing of the Islanders.

Currently, two-way communication with the atoll has been cut off after both clinic radio and another privately operated radio was malfunctioned.

The distress call was believed to be the last communication before the breakdown in communication.

ENDs///

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