TWO men who were arrested and charged for being part of a crowd of people who were behaving in a riotous manner at Kukum, Honiara were sentenced Thursday.
The men aged 21 and 19 were sentenced after pleading guilty to the charge of behave in a riotous manner.
Principal Magistrate Felix Hollison imposed a one month jail term for each of the accused and a good behaviour bond in the sum of $300 for a period of 24 months.
Having imposed the sentence Mr Hollison said whilst he agreed that the magnitude of the present case is extremely serious and should have attracted a harsher sentence than this, his hands are tied.
He said the Court cannot go beyond the maximum sentence of 2 months’ imprisonment sentence under section 175 (d) of the Penal Code [Cap 26].
“It must be made clear that the decision to lay a charge under any provision of law or legislation is the constitutional duty of the Director of Prosecutions as per her powers under the Constitutions of Solomon Islands,” Mr Hollison said.
“I hope these defendants learn from their mistakes and refrain from committing further offences.”
The court had heard that on 24 November this year, officers of the Police Response Team (PRT) were on Patrol at Kukum area in Central Honiara.
This was during the unrest in the capital following the protest led by a group of people from Malaita to call on the Prime Minister to step down.
At about 1.30pm on that day, the PRT responded to a report of a gathering at the Kukum area along the Florence Young School road.
The court heard that when the PRT arrived at Kukum, an officer dispensed a tear gas towards the crowd who were garthered there.
The crowd of people were breaking into shops and looting goods from the shops at Kukum at that time.
Two officers left their vehicle and rushed towards the crowd as people were running away from the tear gas.
They moved towards a shop that was looted and arrested the defendants inside the shop.
Mr Hollison said the fact that the two defendants were caught at or inside the shop shows that they were at the scene of the crime in which they were implicated for the present case.
“I take judicial notice of the fact that most of the business owners who were affected fled for their lives leaving their shops only to be looted and burnt in most cases.”
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
Newsroom, Honiara
