POLICE have now completed their investigation into the matter of the nine men who attacked a family and allegedly demanded $10,000 from the Bazo community on Savo Island in the Central Islands Province.
Police Prosecutor Moses Tei yesterday confirmed that investigation was completed but he was yet to serve the disclosures.
He said investigators had just returned the file to the Police Prosecution Office on Tuesday but he was unable to print out disclosures.
This was because the Prosecution office printing machine ran out of toner.
He therefore sought more time to prepare the disclosures and serve them to the lawyer of one of the accused.
The Public Solicitor’s Office had assigned Bobby Harunari to represent one of the accused, Jacob Gore, 47.
The other eight accused, Pastor Bernard Bana 34, Charles Bane, 72, David Bane, 35, Junior Rollin, 27, Thomas Fenli, 37, Albert Ramo, 21, Rolland Fiu, 41 and Patterson Lugasia, 38, were yet to be allocated lawyers.
They are facing charges of Criminal Trespass, Malicious Damage and Possession of Firearm.
Deputy Chief Magistrate Ricky Iomea granted the adjournment and adjourned the matter till tomorrow.
He directed the Public Solicitor’s Office to allocate lawyers for the eight accused and the prosecution to serve disclosures to Gore’s lawyer in the meantime.
The prosecution alleged the accused from a village in Malaita were led by Pastor Bana to Savo to demand compensation on the evening of 22 February 2024.
The Boza community was said to have been unhappy with their pastor for the past years because he has been benefiting from their outgoing Member of Parliament (MP).
It was claimed that the outgoing MP called the pastor and gave him some money for his community but he did not share it with them.
Unhappy by action of the pastor, the Boza community and told him and his wife to leave, claiming that since he married their ‘sister’, he was so dominant over the family and the community and they did not benefit from him and the MP.
The pastor and his wife left the Boza community for Honiara but he later sent back his wife to Boza to collect some church properties.
That was when the people in the community told the pastor’s wife to leave the church properties so they can be used for church programs.
It was alleged that the pastor was disappointed with what happened and teamed up with eight people and went to Savo and threatened the Boza community and demanded $10,000.00 from them.
They were armed with objects, axes and knives. They allegedly assaulted the victim in the presence of his wife and children.
One of the accused also struck an axe towards the complainant but luckily, the complainant escaped.
Another accused, Rollin allegedly used a homemade pistol to threaten one of the victims during the incident. They shouted and used abusive words as they searched for him (victim) after he escaped.
When they did not find the victim, they returned to his house and chased his family, damaged their dwelling house and other household items worth over $10,000.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
Solomon Star, Honiara
