Henderson murder trial moved to Friday
THE murder trial of the man who allegedly ran over a man outside the now defunct Island Nightclub at Henderson, Guadalcanal, in 2020 will return to the High Court tomorrow.
Jimmy Lusibaea Jnr is facing the trial for one count of murder.
The trial was moved to tomorrow because the defendant’s lawyer was sick.
Judge Ronald Bei Talasasa Jnr did not allow the trial to continue even though the defence counsel was willing to continue with the cross-examination of the second prosecution witness.
Judge Talasasa Jnr said he did not want to risk the defendant appealing this matter on the ground that the trial proceeded despite his lawyer being sick.
He said he had come across such matters in other jurisdictions and therefore raised it with the counsels.
The prosecution has 12 more witnesses to call in this trial.
Lusibaea Jnr is facing allegations that occurred between 6am and 8am on 6 December 2020 outside the former Island Nightclub.
The prosecution alleged that he drove a white double cabin Hilux at high speed in front of the club and allegedly hit and killed the deceased.
Lusibaea Jr did this shortly after an argument and a rock-throwing incident.
Public Solicitor, George Gray, represents Lusibaea, whilst Margaret Suifa’asia appears for the Crown.
Bangladeshi denies sexual offences
A BANGLADESH national has denied having sexual intercourse with an 11-year-old girl in Lungga, Central Guadalcanal, in 2021.
The man who could not be named to protect the identity of the child victim entered a not guilty plea to two counts of Sexual Intercourse with a Child under 15 yesterday.
Having noted the not guilty pleas, Judge Ronald Bei Talasasa adjourned the matter to August 31 for a Pre-Trial Conference.
This matter was committed to the High Court from the Honiara Magistrate Court without a committal hearing last year.
This was because the 11-year-old complainant could not complete her evidence in a Long Form Preliminary Inquiry conducted in the Honiara Magistrate Court due to distress.
If the Long Form Preliminary Inquiry continues, the complainant may have to give evidence twice and may therefore be subject to the same trauma and distress she went through.
The complainant had given evidence in the committal hearing against the 41-year-old Bangladeshi last year.
At that time, the defendant was facing three counts of Persistent Sexual Abuse of a child.
The charge is now amended to two counts of Sexual Intercourse with a Child under 15.
On the first few days of the comital hearing in early January last year, a piece of cloth was put across the dock in court to block the defendant from being seen by the complainant.
It was heard that the 11-year-old complainant at times cried and it was clear she was not comfortable giving evidence in court.
Chief Magistrate, Emma Garo, who presided over this matter said it was also clear that she was in distress when giving evidence.
She said the court had to adjourn the matter several times to enable the complainant to be comforted and assisted to regain her composure before going back to court to give evidence.
On August 1, the court made an order that the complainant give evidence via video link but during the cross examination, Magistrate Garo said it became clear that the complainant was in distress.
She said the court had to adjourn the matter to allow the complainant time to be given the support she needed.
It was at that stage that Magistrate Garo drew counsel’s attention to provisions of section 67 of the Criminal Procedure Code Cap 7 (CPC), inviting submissions on whether the court should report this matter to the High Court.
