BY MELVILLE TITIULU
The Magistrate Court has started hearing into the case of a man accused of torturing his four male victims after the Tetere Police launched an investigation and apprehended him.
Clement Kodo, of Ravua village, Gold Ridge area, Central Guadalcanal, Guadalcanal Province, was charged with, as filed on March 19, 2026, namely, three counts of grievous harm, one count of unlawful wounding, and two counts of compelled sexual intercourse.
Mr Kodo is yet to enter his plea to those charges.
Prosecution told the court yesterday that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has just received the case file from the Tetere Police and that they have yet to review the physical file.
Prosecution informed court that there are other preliminary issues that need to be settled in regards to obtaining the medical reports of the victims.
He also told the court that the police have yet to arrest the other two accused who were alleged to have been involved in committing the offence.
He further informed the court that they are yet to prepare and collect outstanding disclosures and proceed with what is in the case file. In the meantime, the DPP is yet to review the case file and lay proper charges against the accused.
The accused is currently on remand and is yet to seek legal representation. He was in attendance in court yesterday, sitting at the dock.
Defence told the court that he will notify their office with a view to allocating a lawyer for the accused.
The offence of grievous harm attracts a maximum imprisonment of 14 years, the offence of unlawful wounding has a maximum imprisonment of five years, and the offence of compelled rape attracts a life imprisonment maximum.
According to the remand application filed dated March 19, 2026, it was alleged that the defendant suspected the four victims of killing his late elder brother, after a ‘custom man’ revealed and identified the three victims as responsible for the death of his brother through sorcery or voodoo (vele).
He called them one by one to a house in the Black Post area, Foxwood area, where he assaulted and tortured the victims.
The victims sustained serious injuries in different parts of their bodies as a result.
It was further alleged that during the course of the torture, the defendant used weapons such as a baton, a mallet, timber and a knife to harm his victims. To his command, two of the victims performed sexual acts on each other.
The accused’s remand warrant was extended. In the meantime, the matter was adjourned to May 28 for further mention.
Mr Jeremy Oifa appeared on behalf of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the accused was self-represented in court.
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