- North Malaita MP victim of morning raid
- Thugs leave behind a damage of over SBD$300k
By Ian Kaukui
Member of Parliament (MP) for North Malaita, Senley Levi Filualea and his family has come under heavy attack by thugs in the early hours of yesterday morning, leaving behind a total damage of properties worth more than SBD$300,000.00.
Speaking exclusively to the Sunday Star yesterday, Mr Filualea who is a government backbencher described the incident as ‘a sad moment’ of his history as an MP.
He said the incident occurred around 7:00am at their resident at Kombevatu, east of Honiara.
“I was still sleeping when a group of men arrived in three vehicles.
“They are equipped with weapons including knives, stones and irons.
“As soon as they arrived at my house, they started attacking our properties including vehicles,” he said.
He told this paper that his family was in a state of shock when the incident happened.
“We have nothing to do as we do not expect such incident to happen.
“The first thing I do is checking up on every member of my family to get us locked up in a room,” he added.
Filualea said he recognised those that are involved.
“Two of them are the sons of the former North Malaita MP, Jimmy Lusibaea who is believed to be leading the group.
“I know exactly who they are because we are just close relatives and I saw the three vehicles they are using are owned by the former MP,” Filualea who ousted Lusibaea in the April 3rd, 2019 national general election said.
Filualea said he knew the attack was something to do with both the election and petition results of the North Malaita constituency.
“Apart from destroying my three vehicles, they also took some properties of the vehicles such as truck batteries and they also threw stones at my house,” he added.
The damages done to the vehicle is estimated to be around SBD$250-300,000.00, Filualea said.
He added that a sum of SBD$10,000 was also missing in one of his damaged vehicles.
The North Malaita MP said after the incident, he made a phone call to the former MP, to bring his sons so they can sort out the issue but he denied having any idea of what has happened.
Following the unfortunate incident, Filualea has reported the matter to the Police.
He also requested relevant authorities to deal with the issue at the highest level.
“I call on the police to do an immediate investigation to find out who masterminded the attack and make arrest as soon as possible,” he said.
He added that the experience also traumatised his family as there are also women and children who were present at the time of the incident.
While honouring God for looking after his family and directing him not to retaliate, the MP wishes to call on his people not to take the law into their own hands.
“Let the law and the Police deal with the matter.”
