The former policeman Edmond Sae has been acquitted of the murder of the Solomon Islands Police Commissioner Sir Frederick Soaki in 2003.
However, yesterday the High Court convicted Sae of manslaughter for another death two months later in 2003, sentencing him to twenty years in prison.
Howard Lawry of the Public Solicitor's office, who defended Sae, explained the various charges that Sae was facing to Johnny Blades.
Photo: RNZ/Koroi Hawkins
Transcript
HOWARD LAWRY: Six counts initially: A murder on the 10th of February 2003; and he was charged with escaping from custody on the 22nd of april 2003; charged with murder on the 30th of April; and attempted murder on the 30th of April; he was charged with possession of a pistol and possession of ammunition. He pleaded guilty to possession of a pistol, and there was no other ammuniton other than that with the pistol, so the ammunition charge disappeared. At the conclusion of the crown case, he was found no case to answer on attempted murder, no case to answer on the murder of 30th of April, but a case to answer on the included charge of manslaughter.
JOHNNY BLADES: So has he already done prison time in relation to Mr Soaki's death?
HL: No. He's been on remand. He's not ever been convicted of anything before.
JB: It just took a long time, didn't it? This is fourteen years.
HL: yeah but that was because he was alleged to have escaped custody in 2003. That charge was also dismissed, and then the main charge was about Sir Frederick Soaki (his murder) and the issue was identification. And he was found not guilty of that. The judge carefully analysed all the evidence in relation to identification, and has determined there was no sufficient identification evidence. He (Sae) was convicted of the manslaughter on the 30th of April (2003).
JB: The shootout on the 30th of April, 2003, was that linked in some way to the killing of Sir Frederick?
HL: To the extent that there were police opfficers who the accused had a disagreement with because of how they treated him in relation to the death of Sir Frederick Soaki. He went to the police station on the 30th of April, and he made a comment that would be in relation to those police officers who had falsely accused him of the Soaki homicide. And he then went back to his vehicle for about five minutes and then came and shot up the police station. He had warned the police to make sure hat everyone was out. But there was a prisoner who was somewhere in the building other than the cells who happened to get a bullet. So it wasn;t a shootout as such. It was firing an automatic weapon at a building. But that's the only connection to Soaki - it was his beef with police officers who had behaved in a way that he felt they shouldn't have.
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