Both parties find ways to resolve issue amicably
POLICE said the recent killing in North Malaita should be resolved “anytime soon” as they had taken all the necessary steps needed to tackle the issue.
The murder, said to be a payback killing took place more than a week ago. Reports said the killing had divided the North Malaita region with the southern section from Loi’na village just outside Malu’u being declared a no-go zone for travel to Auki.
Road blocks were also set up in different locations in between. Police had earlier dismissed these reports.
“(The)Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) executive and the Malaita Provincial Police (are) fully aware of this matter, and has been working with representatives of both parties along with their national, provincial and family representatives to find ways to resolve the issue amicably,” police said in a brief statement today.
“Above all, the matter should be resolved any time soon as all necessary steps needed to tackle the issue has been reached by police and the affected parties,” the statement said.
Last week police said they were “on top” on what has been described as a “brutal murder” in which a young man was hacked to death.
Police then denied reports that some villagers had fled their homes for fear of reprisal.
“In regards to the issue at North Malaita, Police (are) on top of the issue and there is no such thing as villagers escape from their community,” Police Media said in response to queries from the Solomon Star newspaper.
But the one-liner was later withdrawn, with a qualifier that police are seeking approval for its release.
Relatives said the deceased was a young man from Loi’na just outside Malu’u, North Malaita’s main administrative centre.
The man said to be in his early 20s was attending his father-in-law’s death, when his life was taken in the most brutal way. He had one child only eight months old, according to relatives.
“The man was carried on a stick after his killers tied his feet and hands and carried him away from the village where he was attending his father-in-law’s funeral,” some told Solomon Star yesterday.
“They took him some distance away from the village right in the bush where he was brutally murdered. There were knife wounds all over his body. A post mortem showed he was hit from behind with a heavy object. His throat was also broken, according to people spoken to.
The deceased was said to be related to the MP for North Malaita and former MP and businessman Jimmy Lusibaea. The senseless killing has divided the entire North Malaita region.
But no one seems to know what police are doing about the killing despite saying police are on top of the case.
Relatives and those familiar with the murder said the killing was an apparent payback for an unsolved murder at Mbokona in Honiara in 2015.
“Police took in several men for questioning over the murder of the young man. But everyone was released thereafter for lack of evidence.”
By Alfred Sasako
