28 ARRESTED IN RELATION TO RECENT AUKI BRAWL

Police in Auki with the help of the Police Response Team have arrested 28 suspects following a dispute in Auki early this week.

This was announced by Police Commissioner Frank Prendergast in his weekly media conference today.

Commissioner Prendergast explains, the incident arose following a court decision.

“That incident arose from a dispute between groups following a court decision and police responded very well and order was restored after about an hour and then we’re going through a process of one; reconciliation and two; investigation. To date, 28 people have been arrested for their involvement in that incident. Some will be dealt with in Auki while some will be brought back to Honiara to be dealt with.”

While he praised the Auki Community for assisting police to calm the situation, Mr. Prendergast says, such behaviour must be dealt with legally.

“This sort of reaction to a court decision is not acceptable and it’s appropriate that the police investigate and deal with the matter very strongly, but I would like to make the point that the police, in dealing with the issue, had a lot of support from the community in Auki and we’d like to thank the community for that support and I’d also urge people to respect the rule of law and respect the judicial process and you know, the way our system works, if there’s a dispute then it has to go to court, we all have to accept the decision of the court, that’s the only way the system works.”