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Juveniles stealing prevalent in Honiara: Court

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

Young people ending up in court for stealing is prevalent in Honiara, it is reported.

Principal Magistrate Augustine Aulanga uttered this when sentencing a juvenile to 12 months’ imprisonment yesterday for stealing three iPhones sum-worth $15,200 and cash of $14,000 from a residence in Honiara in March this year.

Aulanga, while explaining the non-custodial sentence, said stealing from shops and business houses is now a very common occurrence in Honiara.

“The number of cases coming to the court is self-evident that property offence committed by young persons or juveniles is prevalent in Honiara,” Aulanga said.

Thus court, he said, should pass sentences which are also of a deterrent nature for like-minded members of public especially juveniles.

Aulanga said stealing is not natured but nurtured and no young person is a born-stealer.

He said a person only learns how to steal by developing bad attitudes during his/her life. As a result of the economic and other difficult circumstances faced by many people in Honiara, this bad attitude is prevalent and is now proliferating amongst many young people.

Regarding yesterday’s sentencing, Aulanga said:

“The gravamen of this offence involves a deliberate and outright theft of a significant amount of money, that is, $14,000. Hence, the court should not just shrug it off with a lenient sentence that will indirectly send a message to juvenile offenders that is okay to steal. In other words, when it comes to a serious theft offence like the present case, the court should not shirk its duty by giving a noncustodial form of sentence to this offender since this will be seen as sending a wrong message to likeminded juveniles and the public at large, taking into account that stealing from shops and business houses is now very common.”

Quarantine facilities now delta proof: PM

Written by
Mavis Podokolo
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Chengs Quarantine Station

BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO

Current quarantine facilities have been improved to contain the covid-19 delta variant.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in his national address yesterday said: “We have conducted assessment to our quarantine facilities to ensure they are able to contain the delta variant without leaking it to outside communities should we have people infected with the variant in the facilities.

“Solomon Islanders the delta variant is very different from original strain of covid-19; it is more transmissible, it is more deadly, it affects people of any age group from children to adults.”

Sogavare said the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States has compared the delta variant’s ability to spread through the air to that of chicken pox.

Meanwhile, he said the temporary closure of the country’s borders has allowed the oversight committee and frontline ministries to re-asses and reset strategies to deal with the delta variant.

“We are now reviewing when will we reopen the borders and at what rate we will allow people to enter from countries with different risk profiles from the delta variant.

“Covid-19 can only enter the country through our international airports, international sea ports and through our western border.

“My government has invested much in the management of this potential entry points to ensure we detect potential COVID-19 risk before it reaches the country or reaches our borders,” Sogavare said.

“Our focus is to stop the virus entering the country or eliminating it at the border quarantine stations.”

New measures for vessels soon

Written by
Mavis Podokolo
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BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO

New measures for foreign vessels will be released soon, says prime minister Manasseh Sogavare.

In his national covid-19 address yesterday, Sogavare said:

“A new shipping advisory will be released later this week out lining new measures for some classes of foreign vessels coming into the country or domestic ships that travel out of the country and return to the country.”

Sogavare reassures public that every foreign vessel that enters Solomon Islands country undergoes a covid-19 risk assessment by the Oversight Committee’s vessel exemption sub-committee.

“This committee determines the level of risk on the vessel and makes decisions in relation to the timing of inward clearance where the committee has concerns about the COVID-19 it can authorise COVID-19 testing to be done on some or all crew members before inward clearance is authorised.

“We have detected seven confirmed COVID-19 infected crews in four international vessels between April and July this year.”

He said for the MV Run Fu 6 case, the vessel is under quarantine and will be managed until covid-19 free before it is allowed to undergo clearance.

“We banned another vessel from entering our borders when we established 12 of their 13 crews members were infected with covid-19,” Sogavare said.

Court circuits for August deferred

Written by
Jennifer Kusapa
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BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

Court circuits for August have been deferred until further notice.

Principal magistrate Felix Hollison announced this in court yesterday, explaining that this deferment will have an impact on an ongoing case against five men in Buala, Isabel province.

The case of Jimmy Taea, Tony Godwin, Hamilton Puza, Joseph Sago and Steward Gift was set for trial on August 16 in Buala.

Meanwhile, defence also informed court that they are having difficulty with funding and might not be available for the trial.

Hollison adjourned the case to August 27 for mention.

The men are accused of damaging and destroying properties belonging to a number of families at Jejevo Village, Isabel Province over a mining row early this year.

The men are each facing one count of going armed in public, 13 counts of wilful and unlawful damage and three counts of simple larceny.

Police alleged that on March 8, 2021 between 2pm and 3pm at Jejevo Village, the men entered the village and committed the offences.

The allegation said on March 8 about 20 men including the five accused left Furona and went to Jejevo armed with weapons such as knives, spear guns, spears, axes and rocks.

It is alleged they entered the village and destroyed a number of properties belonging to 13 families in Jejevo Village and stole properties of three people, the total value of properties destroyed is $350,000 while the total value of the stolen items is more than $67,000.

The accused are represented by private lawyer Lappy Hite while Police Prosecution Service prosecutes the case in court.

DEAR PRIME MINISTER

Written by
Brian Lezutuni
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CALM DOWN: Police Inspector Tex Tafoa addressing a crowd that gathered at Kukum yesterday in anticipation of a protest march to the Prime Minister's Office. Heavy presence of Police on ground at Kukum on Monday calmed the rowdy crowd and dispersed them while their leaders worked with Police to address the issue.

–Planned protest foiled

-Honiara-based Malaita group to resubmit petition

-Group denies yesterday’s crowd

BY JARED KOLI

Another petition is in the works directed at the Prime Minister.

This outcome follows yesterday’s successful quelling of a planned protest march by police.

Leaders of the so-called Honiara-based Malaitans group, which was reportedly behind yesterday’s planned march, say they are working to include their names and signatures and resubmit their petition.

Interestingly, the ad hoc Honiara-Malaitans group have denied any part in the rowdy crowd which gathered at the Kukum market area yesterday, geared up to march for the prime minister’s office.

A spokesman for the group, Noxly Atu said they have been in dialogue since Thursday last week because the Prime Minister reportedly did not receive the petition they had handed his office on July 23, 2021. It was also reported that the petition was not properly signed. 

“Because of this we are working on it to have our group leaders to sign it, and we will resubmit it to the Prime Minister tomorrow [today],” said Mr Atu.

The initial petition was reportedly submitted to the Prime Minister two weeks ago, July 23 and copied to the Opposition leader, Police Commissioner and the Honiara City Mayor.

Only Opposition Leader Matthew Wale and the Honiara City Mayor have acknowledged receiving their copies of the petition.

On Sunday a crowd of Honiara-Malaitans met with senior officers of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) at the new Kukum market where they dialogued following the petition.

Police told the crowd and leaders of the Honiara-based Malaitan group to allow time to sort things out.

Yesterday, a rowdy crowd gathered again at the Kukum market area with plans to stage a protest march to the Office of the Prime Minister.

A heavy police presence was at the scene and officers managed to calm the crowd and disperse them with help of the group leaders.

Inspector Tex Tafoa told the crowd that public assembly is not allowed while the State of Public Emergency (SOPE) exists.  

He said Police will work together with leaders of the Honiara-Malaitans to give the signed petition to the Commissioner of Police, who will then submit it to the Prime Minister when it is ready.

Another spokesman of the group, Lawrence Makili appealed to the crowd not to take the law into their own hands.

“Let us respect the law ….and do things lawfully and within the law.

“We must do things proper, don’t rush with it, now we the organising group will put our names in that petition so that they respond to the group. We will sit and put names and signatories in the petition,” Makili said.

Meanwhile, Atu said the large gathering of the rowdy crowd at Kukum yesterday was not from them.

He appealed to his good people of Malaita in Honiara to calm down and keep out from involving in such unlawful gathering and allow them to sort out the petition and resubmit to the Prime Minister.

Commissioner of Police Mostyn Mangau in a media statement yesterday strongly asked those who intend to join the protest to refrain.

“The planned protest was illegal under the Procession Act and the current State of Public Emergency Regulation. RSIPF will not tolerate such illegal activities that threatens Public Safety and National Security. The Police is on top of the situation and have advice the organisers not to progress with any protest whatsoever.

Commissioner Mangau said there are factors that we must take into consideration when people want to stage protest or wish to march through the streets of Honiara. Request for permission to stage any public protest must be received by the Provincial Secretary and the Provincial Police Commander (PPC) within 48 hours before the event takes place. In the case of Honiara, the request must be received by the Honiara Council City Clerk and the PPC Honiara City for further assessments before any protest could be allowed to take place “I assure the good citizens of Solomon Islands especially in Honiara that the situation in the capital city is ‘business as usual’ but police will continue to closely monitor the situation.”

Metropolis refutes mass lay-off claims

Written by
Eddie Osifelo
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BY JARED KOLI

Metropolis Pacific PTE LTD has refuted out at a social media post saying the company had laid-off a big number of staff.

It was claimed in the social media that a large number of staff were laid-off as of July 31.

But responding to this, the company’s General Manager William Ling said they are not aware of the lay-off claims in the social media.

“We (The Company) are not aware of the laid-off claims in the social media.

“We do believe that those are purely jealousy, we can’t stop people who are born for jealousy.

“They just cannot accept people are doing well and try their very best to destroy others in the social media because social media is costless and can satisfy them somehow.  Pray for them,” he said.

He said the company currently has 68 expatriates and about 120 local workers currently working at the new city at Mamara.

“I hope the media can be responsible for what has been established in newspapers and not create any confusion to the general public as what has been done in the social media,” Mr Ling said.

He said Metropolis Pacific PTE LTD is a Singapore registered company, who signed the Mamara Tasivarongo Mavo Development Agreement with the Solomon Islands Government.

“Metropolis Mamara Development Ltd is a SI registered company, wholly owned by Metropolis Pacific PTE LTD,” Ling adds.

We almost there: Rodie on students covid-19 allowance

Written by
Brian Lezutuni
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Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, Dr Franco Rodie.

BY JARED KOLI

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD) Dr Franco Rodie assures Solomon Islands students in Papua New Guinea and Fiji that the Government is “almost there” on facilitating their special covid-19 allowance.

“I cannot tell you the date in which we might be able to pay the money. But what I can assure you is that we almost there,” Mr Rodie told a covid-19 radio talkback show hosted by the national broadcaster – SIBC, yesterday.

Rodie said they received requests for this from Fiji-based students as well as students from Papua New Guinea

“It has taken us a bit of time because we got to find the money, and there has been some good discussion between MEHRD and the Ministry of Finance,” he said.

He said last year they send students special COVID-19 allowance package. Island Sun understands that for Fiji students, this was around April 2020 when the first Covid-19 outbreak in Fiji. 

“…that is what we are organising now. So we are trying to process what we need to do before we can make the payment,” he said.

Rodie said they should be able to provide that top up allowance soon for students, so that they can buy whatever they need to buy.

Meanwhile, the Education permanent Secretary said beside this normal allowances paid each month should last them until December.

Covid symptoms and experiences unimaginable: former patient

Written by
Mavis Podokolo
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0

BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO

A former covid-19 patient has expressed his experience with the disease as “unimaginable”.

In a radio talkback show yesterday on SIBC, Ambrose Malefoasi detailed his experience in contracting the virus.

Malefoasi was one of the 40- 50 Solomon Islands students recorded as covid-19 positive in Fiji.

“I am one of the students who contracted the virus,” he said.

Malefoasi said it was unfortunate because it affected their health and their studies.

“It was also fortunate that the virus confers immunity of the body in one sense.

“I suspected I got infected with the virus around the 3rd of July so, on the 17th of July 2021, I was swabbed and results returned by the Fiji Ministry of Health was covid-19 positive.

“When I contracted the virus, I had mild symptoms and it is very interesting that the mild is more like contracting malaria. I felt back ache, joint pain, my muscles getting weak. These experiences came in like waves,” he said.

Malefoasi stressed the symptoms come two days after the other, so, “it sort of aggravates until on the 17th of July I decided to get swabbed”.   

He said the good thing is that it took him only three days to recover from the deadly virus.

“So, within three days after swabbing, I no longer feel any fever, headache, dizziness and all the COVID-19 symptoms,” Malefoasi said.

He said in it took about 10 days for a full recovery.

“I want to highlight one point here and that is I am encouraging all citizens to get vaccinated. I know people have been taking their first jabs and very close to getting their second jabs.

“So the symptoms and experiences are unimaginable. Take COVID-19 seriously. Let’s be serious about the government machineries. Let us be serious to look after our families and our nation.

“I still feel that there is opportunity for the virus to break through but let us be proactive as citizens in Solomon Islands who have concern for the people,” Malefoasi said.    

Dr Elizabeth Rogers, meanwhile, during the talkback, urged Solomon Islands students who have covid-19 to stay in their homes.

“I have kept in touch with all the Solomon Islands students who contracted the virus monitor and help them get through the virus,” Rodgers said.

Fisheries ordinance for Guadalcanal province

Written by
Brian Lezutuni
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Guadalcanal-Premier-Francis-Sade-delivering-his-speech-

BY JARED KOLI

A Fisheries Ordinance is being drafted for Guadalcanal Province which is expected to give way to increased activity in fishery/aquaculture undertakings in the province.

Guadalcanal Province Premier Francis Sade echoed this during the recent Guadalcanal Day Anniversary celebration at Marau in east Guadalcanal.

“Fishery is another major industry with potential for Guadalcanal province but one that is yet to be harnessed. Consequently, a Fisheries Ordinance is being drafted and we expect that this will give way to increased activity in fishery/aquaculture undertakings in the province,” Premier Sade said.

In areas of fisheries development, the premier said the Province is proud to host some of the major national fisheries development projects like the Aruligo national tilapia hatchery and Marau sea cucumber hatchery.

“The Guadalcanal Provincial Government will continue to support the national government to lead this country in areas of aquaculture development especially on the development of tilapia fish farming,” he said.

The premier said this year the fisheries division of the province conducted a provincial wide tilapia feasibility assessment.

“This is important to set out our policy priority to develop aquaculture and infrastructure to support small holder commercial fish farming and other potential aquaculture candidate species in the province.

“I wish to thank the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources through Makem Strong Solomon Islands Fisheries (MSSIF) program of the New Zealand Government for supporting Guadalcanal through the provincial fisheries division,” Premier Sade said.

Delta variant infectious than chicken pox: Rogers

Written by
Mavis Podokolo
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Dr Jimmy Rodgers

BY MAVIS N PODOKOLO 

The covid-19 delta variant has been found to be more contagious than the chicken pox, another viral disease which is widely known as highly infectious.

SECRETARY to the Prime Minister Dr Jimmie Rodgers said this information is confirmed by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) a national public health agency of the United States.

“Based on new information the delta variant had been confirmed by CDC and stressed it is as infectious as or more infectious than chicken pox

“For those of you that have chicken pox before you know the way which chickenpox spreads that is how this new variant is spreading,” Rodgers said.

“This virus is more deadly increasing number of people dying from this variant comparing to the number of people died from the previous variant.

“This variant started with the children and no one is exempted from this variant.

“The common thing I want to mention here is all those that have died atleast in Fiji have not been vaccinated. And this is a really important issue for us to take note of,” Rodgers said.

He stressed many countries have stepped up their vaccination coverage seeing that is the only way to combat it.

“If we happen to introduce the delta variant, then we must be prepared to eliminate it in quarantine stations and that has been a policy that worked for us and a policy that we are fine tuning, to make sure we can protect the country and the people from this virus,” Rodgers said.

He uttered, a lot of people in the Solomon Islands still think that COVID-19 can’t hurt them.

“Let me say, there are families torn apart by this disease.

“I just want to make sure all Solomon Islanders to know that this disease is not to be played around with,” Rodgers said.

He said having mandatory vaccination in Solomon Islands is to ensure the population is fully vaccinated and if the virus happens to come in it will not have a disastrous effect in the country and the people.

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