* Rape accused remanded
* Lad detained for misleading officer
* Manelusi denies allegation
* Prosecution to decide Kouvare break-in case
Rape accused remanded
A 23 year-old man has been remanded in custody yesterday for allegedly raping a 16 year-old girl at a village in Marau Sound, East Guadalcanal.
John Wisi faces charges of rape and intimidation.
This relates to an allegation on 14th of January this year at One village at Hatare area.
Prosecution alleged Wisi who usually frequents the home of the parents of the alleged victim raped her on one of his visits.
Wisi was brought to the Honiara Magistrates’ Court yesterday and was formally remanded in custody.
He will appear in court again on February 5.
He is still without a lawyer.
Lad detained for misleading officer
A 19 year-old young man is currently held in custody facing charges of unlawful non-citizen and misleading immigration officer.
The relatives of Paul Anga namely Hedrick Waneasi, Dale Anga and James Kisi are also charged with harbouring unlawful non-citizen, misleading immigration officer and obtaining passport by false statement.
These charges were however ordered by the court to be amended after the court found many errors those charge sheets.
Principal Magistrate Tearo Beneteti also found that one of the charges was laid under the old Passport Act.
She said that charge should be laid under the new Passport Act since the new Act repealed the old Act.
The court also heard yesterday that the relatives of Paul were also not served with the charges despite the charges being filed to the court.
She said the charges should have been served first to the accused before they were filed.
Private lawyer Nelson Laurere who represents all the accused said Paul’s relatives were not aware they were being charged.
He told the court that they only came to know about it when they came to see Paul in court and happened to see their names on the court list.
Ms Beneteti in light of the errors found on the charges and of the three accused not being served with the charges said this is one of the messiest work by the prosecution she ever came across.
The Public Prosecution was not able to fully assist the court yesterday with some information and queries regarding this matter.
In relation to the status of investigation on Paul’s matter, Prosecution informed the court that whilst investigation on other matters regarding Paul is now completed, the Immigration is still investigating how Paul came into the country.
As mentioned by Paul’s lawyer in court yesterday, Paul’s mother is part Bougainville and Africa while his father is a Solomon Islander.
Nelson Laurere told the court his client, Paul, is a Solomon Islander’s citizen but the prosecution however said there are currently no documents to identify Anga’s nationality.
Apart from a passport, there is no birth certificate or other documents to support that he is a Solomon Islander.
The young lad was believed to have entered the country from Bougainville.
Anga was detained under the Immigration Act 2012 on January 6, and was brought to the court yesterday where his detention order was further extended to February 5.
Ms Tearo also adjourned the matter against Anga’s relative to be brought back to the court on that same date.
Before adjourning the matter, she ordered prosecution to amend the charges, have it filed and then served them on the three accused before close of business yesterday.
She also ordered prosecution to tell the officers involved in investigation this matter to speed up the case.
This is so that the prosecution can update the court the status of the investigation.
Manelusi denies allegation
THE son of a senior cop, who allegedly crashed a police vehicle in November last year into a tree at a road side at the King George school area, has denied the allegation against him yesterday.
Moffat Manelusi entered not guilty pleas to the charges of reckless & dangerous driving and careless driving in relation to the incident on 10 November.
After entering the not guilty pleas, Principal Magistrate Ricky Iomea adjourned his matter to January 29, for a pre-trial conference.
A trial date will be fixed soon after the conference.
Moffat, son of Deputy Commissioner Operations, Gabriel Manelusi, is currently on suspension following this incident and another allegation that he misused an official police vehicle for a drinking spree in September last year.
Prosecution to decide Kouvare break-in case
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
Prosecution will be confirming to the court next as to whether they will be proceeding with a store break-in case that allegedly occurred at Kouvare, West Guadalcanal last October.
The matter of Frank Firimolea, Eric Nathaniel Junior and Robert Hayward was adjourned to yesterday for prosecution to confirm if they will proceed with the store break-in charge against the trio.
This was not done as the public prosecutor in carriage of this matter is still on leave.
The three accused had entered not guilty pleas to the charge against them and the matter was set down for a pre-trial conference before Chief Magistrate, Emma Garo on a previous court date.
It was during the pre-trial conference that Ms Garo raised an issue regarding the evidence presented by the prosecution.
She then asked prosecution to consider the charges and to confirm to the court whether they will proceed with the charges or not.
Since this was not done yesterday, Principal Magistrate Fatima Taeburi who mentioned this matter yesterday adjourned the matter to February 5, for prosecution to confirm if they will proceed with the matter.
She said if prosecution wants to proceed with the charge, then a trial date will be fixed then.
Firimolea and Nathaniel Jr were accused of breaking into the store just days after they allegedly escaped from lawful custody last year.
Those two escapees with two other accused namely Eddie Funubana and Silas Kwaota were brought to the Honiara Magistrates Court on 18 October 2017 for remand after being charged in connection to an armed robbery at Panatina Ridge, East Honiara on 13 October 2017.
They were all formally remanded in custody but while waiting to be transported down to the Rove Correctional Centre, Firimolea and Nathaniel Jr however escaped.
Only Funubana and Kwaota were taken back to the Rove Correctional Centre on that day.
Police recaptured Nathaniel at the Blue Flag beach, northwest Guadalcanal on the morning of 30 October, 2017 while Firimolea was recaptured inside a vehicle at White River 02 bus stop on the afternoon of that same day.
Firimolea and Nathaniel allegedly broke into the shop at Kouvare on 29 October 2017, whilst they were in hiding, 11 days after they allegedly escaped from lawful custody.
Prosecution alleged that on 28 October 2017, Firimolea and Nathaniel arrived at Hayward’s house at Kouvare.
According to the allegation, Hayward allegedly showed Firimolea and Nathaniel the Complainant’s store.
Prosecution also alleged Hayward supplied pliers and a screw driver to the two accused and then allegedly advised them to climb on top of the store.
He also allegedly explained the set up inside the store to the two accused.
At 3am, Firimolea and Nathaniel Jr allegedly broke and entered the store run by the Complainant Kabir Hussein and stole $50,000 cash, two carton of Pall Mall cigarette and one carton of Solbako.
They allegedly gave one cartoon of cigarette to Hayward.
Hubert Fugui of HOF Law Chambers represents Hayward while Public Solicitor’s Lawyer Cathy Hite appears for Firimolea and Nathaniel Jr.
Firimolea and Nathaniel Jr are also facing two separate matters that are before the Honiara Magistrates’ Court.
Nathaniel faces one count of armed robbery and unlawful wounding in relation to an incident outside the Bank of South Pacific (BSP) at Point Cruz early last year.
He and Ben Farobo, David Faiga, Stanley Ramo, and Richard Rurai allegedly robbed $1million from two Asians outside of the Bank.
This matter is waiting for a committal hearing to be made in the Honiara Magistrates Court.
This is to have this matter committed to the High Court for trial.
Firimolea is jointly charged with Lawrence Liliva, Fred Taebo Dara and a 15 year-old juvenile for the initial robbery allegations that were said to have occurred in Honiara in May and June in 2015.
This matter is pending trial in the Honiara Magistrates’ Court.
