Sentence for man who pushed another man off a cliff today
SENTENCE for a man who pushed another man off a cliff after he lost $600 in a card game at Chui Chui village at Gold Ridge, Central Guadalcanal, will be delivered this afternoon.
Harrison Ulavania was found guilty after a trial for one count of Act Intended to Cause Grievous Bodily Harm.
Justice John Keniapisia will deliver the sentence at 2pm today via zoom as he is currently in Auki on a court circuit.
Ulavania is charged in connection to an incident on the morning of 13 May 2023 in Chui Chui Village.
In the late evening of the previous day of 12 May 2023, the victim and some of his relatives started a card game for money known as ‘Locker.’
The area is located beside a mining site and there were steep cliffs.
The card game continued through out the night until the next day 13 May 2023.
At about 6am, Ulavania joined the group for the card game.
A few minutes after joining the game, Ulavania complained that he already lost $600 and asked the victim and others playing to give him $50.
After the victim and another player jointly won a game, the victim gave $50 to Ulavania.
Ulavania took the $50 and tore it into half.
Judge Keniapisia in his judgement said tearing a legal tender in Solomon Islands is an offence that Ulavania could have been charged for as well.
He then left the card game back to his tent house, got a bush knife and destroyed his own household utensils.
He then moved towards the boys and a lady threw a skirt that landed on Ulavania. The skirt blocked his face and he fell to the ground.
The victim removed the knife from Ulavania and gave him $50 but Ulavania got up and wrestled with one of the boys named Elvis to the point they both slid down the slope of a cliff.
Ulavania slid all the way down to the edge of the cliff, whilst Elvis was caught trapped by the vegetation up the slope.
Having concern for Ulavania, the victim ran after Ulavania but Ulavania turned around and pushed him.
The victim then fell over the cliff and landed 50 meters down below in the stream where there were stones, rocks, sticks, logs and debris.
Judge Keniapisia described the injuries sustained by the victim as serious and life-threatening.
He said fractured thigh-bone and fractured kneecap are very serious and life-threatening injuries.
The victim is still suffering from those serious injuries and is due for medical review in June 2024 when the metal put inside his fractured thigh-bone will be examined before any treatment is done to the kneecap.
Rochelle Palmer from the Public Solicitor’s Office represents Ulavania, whilst the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Andrew Kelesi is appearing for the Crown.
Sentencing subs, mitigation for fraudster on March 1
SENTENCING submissions and mitigation on the matter of the former Bank South Pacific teller who confessed to stealing $500,000 from accounts of the bank’s customers will be made in court on March 1.
Tessa Solenone Rore is facing sentence after she pleaded guilty to two counts of Larceny by Servant and one count of Forgery of Certain Documents with the Intent to Defraud.
Her matter went before the court yesterday and it was heard that the prosecution had already filed its sentencing submissions.
Public Prosecutor Jonathan Auga also told the court he also included a copy of the Victim Impact Statement (VIC) from the bank as well.
A copy of the VIC was provided to the defence counsel after Delilah Kukura of Public Solicitor’s office said her colleague Emy Rusi was yet to receive a copy.
Ms Rusi will go through the VIC and might address issues in the VIC.
Mr Auga was ready to proceed but was told by the presiding magistrate to do the oral submissions when Ms Rusi is present in court so she can also respond to any issues the prosecution raised in their submissions.
Rore was employed as a Money Gram teller at the Bank South Pacific Central Honiara Branch when she committed the offences.
Rore would take out money from the till, which resulted in cash shortages.
She would then make withdrawals from customers’ accounts to balance the till at the end of a business day.
Rore did such fraudulent transactions to 40 customers’ accounts since April 2020 and defrauded them of a total of $500,000.
She was officially terminated from her employment in August 2020.
