Solomon Islands police investigating the decapitation of an Australian missionary on Malaita island say they are confident of an early arrest in the case. Lance Gersbach, a 60-year-old Seventh Day Adventist missionary, was killed as he was completing repairs on a church hospital at Atoifi. Mr Gersbach, his wife and two small children, had only been in the Solomon Islands for about three months. Solomon Islands Police Chief Superintendant Jackson Ofu says despite the killing, there is no threat to expatriates.
| "Well, maybe a little threat. They did cut his head off, after all. But..." |
"The security threat on expatriates in Solomon Islands is very low," he said.
| "I mean, it ain't like this happens all the time, y'know?" |
"We very much believe that this incident is an isolated incident, a one-off incident which could happen out of, desperation I suppose, by landowners."
| No matter how desperate I've ever been, I can't recall ever cutting somebody's head off... |
A spokesman from the church, Pastor Larry Laredo, says he understands Mr Gersbach and the local islanders had differences about land ownership. But he says the island relies on the hospital and it will not be shut. "The Adventist church is one of the biggest churches in the Solomons, so I doubt if we'd pull out," he said. "When issues like this have arisen before obviously we need to protect and look after the family. We have a strong infrastructure in the Solomons because of our sheer size." |