THE Honiara Magistrate Court will on March 12 review an arrest warrant issued for a man accused of wounding his wife’s head with a sector knife last November.
Richard Kennedy is facing one count of Unlawful Wounding following the alleged incident on 16 November.
Following his arrest, Kennedy never attended his court case, resulting in the issuance of a Warrant of Arrest for him since November.
Ever since, the accused never made any attempt to attend court, nor was he arrested and taken to court.
On Friday, the Case Officer from the Tetere Police Station appeared in court and explained that he served the summon on Kennedy on 14 January.
He said Kennedy’s excuse was that he did not have bus fare to get to court.
The next day, the officer offered Kennedy a ride to the Tetere Police Station because his case was to be mentioned in court that day.
Despite receiving $50 for bus fare from an officer at the Tetere Police Station, Kennedy still failed to attend his court hearing on 15 January.
Later, the Case Officer received a soft copy of the arrest warrant from the prosecution and this was followed by a hard copy in court on Wednesday.
Principal Magistrate Felix Hollison has since ordered the execution of the warrant of arrest, directing that Kennedy be brought to court.
Case background
On 15 November 2024, Kennedy allegedly had a drink with his brother and another person until the next morning.
That morning, an argument broke out between Kennedy and his brother, prompting Kennedy to run back to his house where he grabbed a stone and used to challenge his brother.
After the argument, Kennedy returned to his house and asked his wife for money.
However, his wife told him that she had none and quickly escaped with their baby to a nearby garden and Kennedy pursued them with a bucket of unwashed clothes.
When Kennedy arrived at the garden, he again demanded money from his wife and she repeated to him that she had none.
Kennedy was enraged and allegedly grabbed his wife’s hair with his left hand and struck her head twice with his right hand, using a sharp sector knife for cocoa harvesting.
The attack left his wife’s head with severe head wounds and heavy bleeding, which left her unconscious.
She was rushed to the Good Samaritan Hospital in Tetere, Guadalcanal Province, where she received medical treatment for two cuts in the back of her head.
The nurses had to shave off her hair to stitch her wounds before releasing her from the hospital.
Kennedy was arrested on 19 November 2024 and in his Record of Interview, he admitted to wounding his wife with the sector knife.
By ASSUMPT BUCHANAN
Solomon Star, Honiara
