Girls: Preacher assaulted us

TEN girls have lodged complaints of sexual assault against a Papua New Guinea preacher who fled the Solomon Islands before police could get him.Solomons Deputy Police Commissioner (Operations) Nela Mosese said police were working on steps to bring the preacher back to face the courts in Honiara.“Ten girls came forward to lodge complaints against the pastor,” Mosese said.“Police got their statements and are compiling a case.“When we have everything ready we will seek help from our counterparts in Papua New Guinea to get this pastor back,” he said.Mosese said they were working closely with the Attorney-General’s office, which would facilitate any requests for the arrest and repatriation of the pastor.He said with a recent agreement signed between the Royal Solomon Islands Police and Papua New Guinea police, the process to extradite the pastor, if needed, would be possible.
The preacher, who had been visiting the country and preaching on Honiara’s streets in recent years, allegedly assaulted the complainants in motel rooms.That was when his victims sought prayers and counselling from him. The preacher claimed he possessed healing powers.
One 17-year-old student told the Sunday Star the preacher asked her to undress when she went to see him at City Motel.She took her shirt off, but not her skirt, before she dashed out of the motel room.
The girl was one of the 10 alleged victims.
The preacher left the country last month before the girls started reporting his alleged sexual indiscretions to police. – Solomon Star