BY JENNIFER KUSAPA
A man facing murder charge is without a lawyer, more than a month after being placed in custody.
Principal Magistrate Fatimah Taeburi yesterday made direction for the Public Solicitor’s Office to allocate a defence lawyer for the murder accused, who has been remanded since April 4, 2021.
The accused on the previous occasion told court that he had already made request to the PSO for a lawyer.
Ms Taeburi said the charge against the accused is serious and PSO should prioritise the matter and allocate a lawyer to assist the accused.
Meanwhile prosecution told court that investigations have already completed, once a lawyer has been allocated to represent the accused then disclosures will be served.
Taeburi then adjourned the case for May 26 for mention and made directions for PSO to allocate a lawyer for the accused.
This is the case of Mathew Kosa Manebona who is facing one count of murder in relation to the alleged murder incident of a 25-year-old male person at Halavo on April 5, 2021.
It is alleged that the deceased and the suspect were having an argument and was out of control, as a result the suspect grabbed a knife and cut the victim on the left side of his head and stabbed him on the right side of his stomach.
Police in Tulagi were alerted and officers attended to that report in which he was arrested and charged for the offence committed.
The body of the deceased was then transported to the Tulagi Hospital but later referred to the National Referral Hospital (NRH), where medical authorities confirmed the death of the victim.
