A 47-year-old man who has been on the run following the alleged rape of an 18-year-old woman in the Tenaru area of Central Guadalcanal has been arrested by police in Malu’u, North Malaita on April 30, 2018.

It is alleged that on the morning of April 8, 2018, the woman was intending to travel to Honiara when she was taken on board a car at the Henderson area to Tenaru where she was allegedly raped by a passenger in the vehicle.

Acting Provincial Police Commander (PPC), Guadalcanal Province, Superintendent Nixson Manetoga says, “The successful arrest of the man was a result of cooperation between police at the Malu’u Police Station and community leaders there.

“I would like to thank the community leaders and police officers at Malu’u in North Malaita and my officers who have worked hard to locate the man who has been on the run since 8 April 2018.

“The man has been transported to Honiara on May 1, 2018 and formally charged for one count of rape.

“The man has been remanded at the Rove Correctional Centre by the Honiara Central Magistrate and expected to re-appear before the same court on May 16, 2018.”

–POLICE MEDIA

BY ALFRED PAGEPITU

GIZO

WESTERN provincial government is focused on resurrecting its six provincial farm, in an attempt to improve the province’s agriculture sector

Premier Wayne Maepioh said, “We are currently working at improving provincial farms to assist all our local farmers in the province.

“My government is also relying on national government to give us support because the provincial government is relying on the national government for funds, such as the PCDF to support other projects.”

He said according to his government’s three-year development plan 2017/2019, they plan to provide farmers and rural communities with information.

“There are significant challenge for surrounding Islands in the province especially copra farmers in Ranonga, Vella la Vella, Kolombangara and Rendova have to transport their copra products to Gizo and Noro.”

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

POLICE Commissioner Mathew Varley says investigation into the alleged armed robbery which occurred on the Lee Kwok Kuen boss is still ongoing.

Responding to questions raised during yesterday’s police conference, he said that at this stage there are no arrests and police are trying very hard in their investigation to identify the suspects.

He said that there is no further information but police are still pursuing the case.

This is the incident in which men attacked a businessman when he was about to open his business on February 28.

Police reports said the victim was attacked with a bush knife at about 7.30 am at his business premises.

It was further alleged the victim sustained severe injuries on both of his hands and mouth as a result of the knife attack.

The victim was later rushed to hospital for medical treatment.

BY JENNIFER KUSAPA

POLICE Commissioner Mathew Varley says the main issue highlighted during the Melanesian Spearheard Group police commissioners conference was security challenge.

He said it is an annual police commissioners conference, and during the two-and-half-day conference they discussed how to build stronger police cooperation between MSG countries and discuss a range of projects.

He said couple of key projects that are underway include the development of the regional security strategies for MSG, and these will be a strategic framework on how MSG countries can identify the security challenges facing our region and also build on cooperation between police forces to secure various nations.

“That work is very much on going we had a consultation workshop late last year with representation from both RSIPF and the Ministry involved and we agreed that the next workshop will be held in July soon to be undertaken and again we will be involved and I know the Director for National Security and Strategy is working heavily in this particularly on Solomon Islands National Security strategy,” Varley said.

Varley said the National Security Strategy for SI must complement the regional security strategy and vice versa.

He adds, they also discussed a concrete plan on how SI will continue to address some of the security issues and threats faced including border security, cybercrime and future issues that the country may face.

He also confirmed discussing with the PNG Police Commissioner regarding the common border shared between Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea.

BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE

INTERESTING findings from a research carried out in three provinces to see how attitudes and communication about violence against women and girls in the country has found that children in Temotu province are the first to intervene when violence erupts between a couple.

This is according to a presentation delivered by Dr Anouk Ride an independent consultant who carried out the research with Ms Melinda Kii and Women’s Desk officers of the Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs (MWYCFA) in Malaita, Temotu and Guadalcanal provinces.

She stressed that one of the reasons for the research was to examine social attitudes to uncover messages that would most likely change violence against women and girls.

Ride said the research involved 200 people who participated in a total of 15 workshops conducted from November 2017 to January 2018 that facilitated more than 30 hours of discussions.

Of the 13 research findings, Ride said one of them concentrated on who was likely to intervene and encourage change when violence occurred between a couple.

To add on, she expressed that in Malaita, the fathers of husbands are the primary actors, whereas in Guadalcanal it is both parents of the couple and in Temotu province children were found to be the first to act.

The research is an initiative of MWYCFA with SAFENET and other partners working on violence against women and is funded project by Oxfam Australia, from DFAT under the Safe Families Project.

BY ALFRED PAGEPITU

GIZO

RETIRED police, immigration and quarantine officers from Shortland Islands who served during the Bougainville crisis are calling on the government to pay them their dues.

They are reiterating their call, which had initially received no response from the government.

They had requested their outstanding allowances and payments be paid them, in addition to recognition and appreciation from the government for their service to the country at the height of the Bougainville crisis.

These officers were said to have been deployed and authorised under the Public Service Commission (PSC) to perform their duties as public officers.

A former police officer Joshua Loko told Island Sun Gizo yesterday the previous government led by Manasseh Sogavare had failed to honour its promise.

“Now, the Rick Hou-led government are showing the same symptoms of negligence and ignorance to the call made by our main taskforce committee in Honiara.”

He said since the government has made payments to former militants, they also want to get paid as well.

“If the previous government has made several payouts as Christmas presents to former militants, why are we being left out.

“We therefore, call on the current government under Rick Hou to please pay the appreciation presents to those actively employed because they have taken their oath to serve this nation and they have done it.

“Paying people who wreck this nation to its knees is a slap on the integrity of this nation Solomon Islands we have been a laughing stock to other nations on this earth for rewarding militants.”

He explained they have tabled this issue before two successive governments already.

Loko said they trust the current government will sort this out with the taskforce in Honiara. The sooner the better, he said.