The new chief Magistrate of the Honiara Magistrates Court has described as worrying increasing incidents of rape in Solomon Islands.
New Chief Magistrate Emmanuel Kouhota made the statement on Wednesday in Honiara after he was sworn-in by the country’s Chief Justice, Sir Albert Palmer.
He said the High Court has hearing rape incidents of young girls, adding it is obvious females must look after themselves from perpetrators.
Mr Kouhota who had been Chairman of the Leadership Code Commission (LCC) for eleven years said he had decided to leave the Commission because he is a trained magistrate.
And he added he’s been saddened by the backlog of outstanding cases at the Honiara Magistrates Court, therefore he accepted the position of Chief Magistrate.
Mr Kouhota said his immediate task is to ensure the backlog of outstanding cases is reduced.
But he said the task will be difficult because the Honiara Magistrates Court only has three courtrooms, and in general, magistrates do not have rooms to work from.
– GCU
