LIFE-TERM FOR SHOP KILLER

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

A SHOP-KEEPER who murdered his Chinese female boss in cold-blood April last year in Honiara has been jailed for life.

And High Court judge Justice Howard Lawry ordered that Max Gosia Taiga of Malaita served a minimum of 25 years before he can be eligible for parole.

Taiga hacked Li Meng Chen (Lisa), 44, to death on the morning of 13 April 2021 inside Wai Hai Shop at Point Cruz, then escaped to his home village in Malaita.

No one was inside the shop at the time of the killing. Police later found the body inside the shop in a pool of blood.

The killing shocked the nation.

At his village, Taiga’s parents talked him into surrendering to police. His father later took him over to Honiara and formally handed him over to the police.

Taiga pleaded guilty to murder when he appeared in court.

Justice Lawry said the violence that took place was premediated by Taiga and he had breached the trust placed upon him as an employee.

“I reject the submission that the term should be reduced because of the perceived slight at words the deceased had previously used,” Justice Lawry said.

“This is not a case where you even came close to losing the power of self-control,” he added.

“You killed in retaliation; you planned what you would do and waited through the night for the deceased to come to the shop.

“You had the opportunity to reflect on your plan of action.

“You chose to proceed, you attacked, restrained and killed your employer,” Justice Lawry told Taiga.

The judge stated that this is not the first occasion when an employer of a shopkeeper has used violence against an employer.

“The community has a right to know that those who choose to act violently against others who have entrusted them with employment can expect the courts to impose significant terms of imprisonment.”

The court earlier heard Lisa arrived at her shop between 8am to 8.30am.

Taiga was already inside when she came through the back door.

Police say before she died, she called her husband pleading for help.

When her husband arrived at the shop, she found his wife already dead.

Dr Roy Maraka, who conducted the port mortem, confirmed that the deceased died from exsanguination as a result of severed left internal jugular vein due to a stab wound to the left side of the neck.

The exsanguination resulted from the large cut on the internal jugular vein.

The deceased had abrasions on her neck indicating manual strangulation on the neck.

There was laceration on the left side of the head, and an incision wound at the back of the head. 

Discover more from Theislandsun

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading