THE burning of homes at Windy Ridge, central Guadalcanal, last Sunday, was retaliation to an earlier attack by youths from the area.
Taxi driver Patkin Rere from Malango said youths from Windy Ridge attacked his car early Sunday when returning from Honiara to his village.
“They’ve actually set up a road block near their settlement,” Mr Rere claimed.
“I was driving home early in the morning when I came to the road block. So I stopped and went out to clear it when a group of youth approached me,” he continued.
“They tried to attack me so I moved away into the bush. That’s when they damaged the windscreen of the vehicle I was driving,” he said.
Mr Rere said the youths accused him of an incident the day before, which he said he knew nothing about.
“I was innocent of the incident on Saturday evening when youths from Malango reportedly attacked a youth from Windy Ridge.”
After the attack, Mr Rere went to his village and a group of men returned and torched five homes in the Windy Ridge area.
They also damaged food gardens and other edible trees in the Windy Ridge settlement.
Police have since arrested one suspect in relation to the house burning.
Chiefs from the two groups are also working on settling the two groups.
By LESLEY SANGA
