21 Jul 2010

Former Solomon Islands attorney-general has to be recharged due to oversight

8:14 am on 21 July 2010

An administrative oversight has delayed child sex charges from proceeding against a former Solomon Islands attorney-general.

Julian Moti was arrested at Brisbane International Airport in 2007 and charged with seven counts of engaging in sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16.

The charges related to the alleged rape of a 13-year-old girl in Noumea and Vanuatu in 1997.

The case was thrown out late last year after a Brisbane Supreme Court Justice ruled "subsistence payments" the Australian Federal Police made to the girl and her family between 2008 and 2009 had brought "the administration of justice into disrepute".

The Court of Appeal in Brisbane last week overturned the stay order, paving the way for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to again proceed with its case against Mr Moti.

However in a review of the case in the Supreme Court in Brisbane yesterday morning it was discovered there was currently no indictment against Mr Moti before the court.

The discovery means Moti will now have to be formally re-charged.