MOST of the offerings and tithes worth more than $50, 000 stolen by thugs from Gizo GF Jones Memorial Church at the Western Provincial capital around the midnight of Monday were collections from the weekends.
That’s according to the Area Church Pastor (ACP) Vernon Peter after comments and questions have been raised by the public as to why such large amount of money were kept at the church and got stolen.
He told the Solomon Star on Tuesday night that, the stolen cash were offerings and tithes collected last Sabbath. They were supposed to be deposited on Tuesday.
Pr Vernon clarified that the church does not normally keep large cash at the church. Most times the monies are deposited on time.
“The stolen money involves monies to support other churches within the district, the 13th Sabbath offering, offerings collected during the Sabbath School, Divine Service, AY, Closing Sabbath and tithes collected on Sabbath.
“Because the treasurers were busy on Sunday they could not count the money for deposit on Monday as was the usual case.”
He further clarified that last Sabbath marked the end of the second quarter under the church calendar and the 13th Sabbath offerings are usually collected to support projects in other conferences overseas.
Not only that there was a large tithes giving, he added.
It was also claimed that one of the members also made a huge tithe payment last Sabbath totaling nearly $13,000.
“So the collection was much bigger compared to other Sabbaths,” he said.
The ACP added, the church communication department was planning to make an international transfer on Tuesday to purchase equipment for the church from overseas. They also lost about $13,000 during the burglary.
Funds fund required to support the renovation work this week to open the GF Jones church in few months time were also lost.
“It’s an unfortunate incident because the thieves hit just days after such a huge collection was made on Sabbath.
“So I would to clarify that these offerings and tithes were collections from the weekend,” he said.
In a statement submitted to the Police in Gizo to support the investigation ACP Vernon said, the incident occurred around midnight on Monday night going into Tuesday morning.
The statement said, a member of the church noticed the door opened and alerted another member and the ACP.
Upon further investigation it was found that the thieves gained entry by removing two louver glasses, located at the western side of the church building.
Once inside the suspects broke into communications and treasury rooms, where they carried a wooden packing box and exited through the back door which can be opened from inside.
Once outside at the back of the church under the cover of darkness they used a crow bar to remove the padlock and opened the box to help themselves with all the monies that were kept inside containers, plastics and offering and tithe bags.
They fled with the deposit books, cheque books and external drive.
According to the statement submitted to the police it is estimated that the total amount of money stolen from the box plus the cost of damages and external is estimated at $50, 463.
Actual cash recorded and verified totals to $35, 963.50 which includes the external drive.
Only the offering bags and cheque book were recovered are with the police. No cash was recovered as yet.
Meanwhile, it was revealed several suspects have been apprehended in relations to the incident. Unconfirmed reports said, one of the suspects escaped by boat on Tuesday morning.
He was said to be apprehended at Seghe port on Tuesday afternoon.
Most of the suspects are due to appear before the court,
Gizo Police when contacted on Wednesday for comments declined to elaborate on the matter as it is still under investigation.
All inquires have been forwarded to the Police Media Unit in Honiara.
By MOFFAT MAMU
