18-year-old arrested following knife wounding in Malaita

By Timothy Inifiri Jr.

Malaita Police have arrested an 18-year-old male suspect in relation to a wounding incident at Fiu Village, East Kwaio on 2 June.

Speaking to the media in his weekly press conference today, Police Commissioner Mostyn Mangau confirmed that the arrest was made on 19 June 2023 with the suspect now in Auki police custody.

“The police is now working closely on its investigation to complete formalities to have the suspect remanded”, said Mangau.

It was alleged that the suspect out of disappointment went to the victim’s house and cut his leg with a bush knife while he was lying in a hammock.

“The suspect was disappointed because the victim went with other villagers to recover some of the properties (two rolls of dux pipe purposely for water supply) that he removed ”, Commissioner Mangau said.

Mangau added that victim sustained severe injury and was transported to Atoifi hospital and later transferred to the National Referral Hospital (NRH) due to the seriousness of the injury.

Mangau also thanked the officers in Atori and Atoifi for their hard work and the surrounding community for working closely with the police that led to the successful arrest of the suspect.