Nine One murder committed to High Court for trial
THE matter of the three men accused of murdering a man at the Nine One area at Henderson in Central Guadalcanal last December has been committed to the High Court for trial.
This was after the court found sufficient evidence against the defendants Allen Afu, Francis Maefasia and Trevor Maefasia on the charges of murder and attempted murder.
The committal was made following a Short Form Preliminary Inquiry conducted on their matter on a previous court date.
The three defendants were charged for an incident that occurred on the afternoon of 15 December 2023.
The prosecution alleged the incident occurred following an argument between the two parties over a water well.
The accused Afu was said to be having his shower when the victim Jeffery Mata approached him, and started swearing at him and challenged him for a fight.
The second accused Francis, having seen the argument, tried to calm down the situation but he was allegedly attacked by Jeffery and his brother Charles who became the deceased.
Following the argument and attack, Afu allegedly stabbed the brothers Jeffery and Charles in their abdomen.
He allegedly stabbed Jeffery first and Charles later when Charles tried to distract Afu by shooting him with a stone.
Charles, after being stabbed, was alleged to have been further attacked by the accused persons.
As a result, the deceased’s intestine protruded through his abdomen wound.
The accused withdrew from attacking the deceased when women and children in the area started screaming and crying.
The brothers were taken to the National Referral Hospital, however Charles died shortly after reaching the hospital.
Man remanded for allegedly strangling woman to death
A MAN has been remanded in custody for allegedly strangling a woman to death and ditching her body into the sea at Marau in Guadalcanal Province last October.
The defendant Constance Manepania is facing one count of murder.
Police brought the defendant to the Honiara Magistrate Court last Friday afternoon and Public Prosecutor Jonathan Auga applied for a 14-day remand for him.
Principal Magistrate Elma Veenah Rizzu Hilly granted the remand application and had the defendant locked up in custody.
Manepania will appear again in the Honiara Magistrate Court on February 8.
The alleged incident occurred on the afternoon of 9 October 2023 in Marau.
The prosecution alleged that on evening of the previous day, the deceased and other relatives boarded a canoe to an Island called in the Marau region to sleep over to fish.
At about 8am the next day, the deceased and her two relatives went to the mainland to collect food and water for the group on Ravi Island.
When they reached the mainland, they dug some swamp taro and refilled some water containers and went back to the seaside at Tawanikeni where they left their canoe.
At about 4pm, the deceased and another girl got into their canoe and departed from the mainland for Ravi Island.
However, it was alleged that about a few meters away from the mainland, the deceased complained that she felt unwell and was afraid of going to the Island.
She decided to return to the mainland so the other girl left the deceased at the seaside so she can slowly walk back home.
The other girl bade the deceased good night and paddled back to Ravi Island.
It was further alleged that a witness who helped the defendant to hide the body of the deceased had stated that he was on his way to the airport when he heard the sound of a person crying.
The witness stated when he got closer to where the crying came from, he saw the defendant holding a bush knife in his right hand.
Manepania then allegedly told the witness that he was in big trouble and then led the witness to where the deceased was lying unconsciously.
The deceased was still breathing at that time.
Manepania then allegedly stepped on the deceased’s forehead and squeezed her neck until she stopped breathing.
The prosecution further alleged that Manepania then demanded the witness to take the dead body and sink it in the deep sea.
He threatened the witness that he would cut him with his knife if he failed to comply.
The Marau police received the report on the matter on 10 October 2023 when the deceased’s body was washed ashore in front of Conflict Lodge in Marau.
An inquiry file was established and was later registered as a criminal file when enough evidence was obtained.
Manepania was later formally arrested and charged.
He is yet to have a legal representative.
