Member of Parliament (MP) for East Guadalcanal Bradley Tovosia has expressed gratitude saying he can now work freely to serve his people.
Tovosia made the statement on Monday after the court acquitted him and Guadalcanal Premier Anthony Veke of all the charges they have been facing.
Tovosia thanked his legal representative and everyone who supported his fight to prove his innocence.
“And now that I ended up being a free man as an MP, I thank people in my constituency and immediate relatives elsewhere in the country who prayed for me and stand behind me during this court case.”
Mr Veke said he is happy with the outcome of the case which is also a relief from the burden since they were been charged.
“This is a big achievement for myself, my family, people in my ward and also as a premier of my people in Guadalcanal who stand behind me as leader.
“I know from the beginning that I’m innocent of these charges.
“But we have to go through processes which already exhausted and eventually proved that we are innocent which resulted in our discharge.”
He thanked his legal team and people who supported him one way or the other during the court case.
Both men were acquitted on a technical issue being a Legal Notice which was raised by Tovosia’s lawyer on the last day of the prosecution’s case.
This made the prosecution obliged to do a further investigation which resulted in confirmation that Ordinance and Legal Notice under which their charges were subjected, were never gazetted.
As a result, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was obliged to sign a Nolle Proseque to discontinue with all the charges against Veke and Tovosia.
Mr Veke told the media outside of court that the 2008 Ordinance that was subject to the charges they faced was not gazetted by the province, until 2014.
He said prosecution should have properly investigated the matter.
“They want to charge us under what is not a law,” he said.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
