* Father admits incest charges
* Police given time to complete rape probe
Father admits incest charges
A 38-YEAR-OLD man, Tuesday pleaded guilty to having sex with his 11-year-old daughter last year in Isabel.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughter, is facing two counts of incest.
He admitted the offence when he appeared before Principal Magistrate Fatima Taeburi.
Taeburi, after arraigning the accused, said she will be committing the matter to the High Court for sentence.
The matter will return to the Honiara Magistrates’ Court again on February 11 for the committal.
Taeburi directed counsels to prepare the relevant documents for the committal by Monday next week.
The incidents occurred on unknown dates between 1 June and 19 September 2018.
The Public Solicitor’s Office is representing the accused while the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions appeared for the Crown.
Police given time to complete rape probe
INVESTIGATIONS into a rape case that allegedly occurred at Boneghe, Northwest Guadalcanal, has been ordered to be completed before February 19.
Principal Magistrate Fatima Taeburi made the orders when mentioning the matter of Frank Gatu, Tuesday.
Gatu is facing a rape charge relating to an allegation on 17 September 2017 at Boneghe.
Public Prosecutor Patricia Tabepuda said partial disclosures were already provided to the defence counsel.
She said this means that investigation is still ongoing.
However, she added that an attempt to call the police officer for an update on the status of the investigation was futile as the officer was not in the office when she called.
Given that, she is asking for time to follow up on the status of investigation.
Meanwhile, the defence counsel Bobby Harunari informed the court that he had made a proposal to the prosecution.
He added the prosecution will be needing time to respond to the proposal.
Ms Taeburi then had to adjourn the matter to February 19 for another mention.
She also directed that the investigations be completed by then and for the prosecution to serve full disclosures on February 18.
The accused was further remanded in custody.
