Police close in on second suspect in Easter double murder

Deputy Police Commissioner, Gabriel Manelusi, Police Commissioner Matthew Varley and NCID chief Ian Vaevaso

Police say they are closing in on the second suspect in the Easter double murder case, after the first turned himself in yesterday.

In a press conference in Honiara today Police Commissioner Matthew Varley revealed they have approached friends and family of the man, who is believed to be hiding out in Malaita, to try and convince him to give himself up.

It is the same method used to arrest the first suspect, 21-year-old Jimmy Goufi, who is expected to face court tomorrow (Wednesday).

It was confirmed Mr Goufi was a security guard at the LGZ building, the home and business of well-known couple Gongzhen Lao and Yuegui, Wu also known as Jimmy and Joy Kwan, who were murdered on Easter Sunday or late on Easter Saturday night.

Police Commissioner Matthew Varley said Mr Goufi was still being questioned in custody from his negotiated arrest yesterday, after his family persuaded him to surrender.

“The suspect has not been charged yet, because the process is still ongoing, the interview process, but we expect he will be charged soon, and likely to face court if not today (Tuesday) then tomorrow, that is our plan”

“Of course the charge as we’ve been saying all the way is on murder”

Mr Goufi was airlifted to Honiara yesterday afternoon at around 4pm and taken to custody for questioning.

Although the Police would not go into “who did what” with Mr Varley leaving that to the court process, he said the two were the “prime suspects” and the two identified from the CCTV footage.

They were not hiding together, and Police urged the last suspect to surrender.

“We are working behind the scenes around the clock,” he said .”And to have the suspect surrender and come forward peacefully is a much better result than having to send the police in to arrest him.”

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