Prime Minister Derek Sikua has won a defamation case he lodged against the Island Sun Newspaper at the High Court.
Dr Sikua and his Secretary Jeremiah Manele lodged the claim which arose from an official visit by the Prime Minister to the 63rd United Nations General Assembly Meeting held in New York from 22nd September to the 1st of October 2008.Jeremiah Manele was at the time Secretary to the Prime Minister and a part of the Solomon Islands delegation.
The Island Sun Newspaper published on the 8th and 9th of October 2008, an article, an editorial and a cartoon depicting Dr Sikua and Mr Manele as behaving in a drunken manner during the visit.
They said the Prime Minister was drunk, threatened his wife with violence and because he was drunk and missed a speech by the then Australian Prime Minister.
The Island Sun Newspaper maintained that they had their sources, but during the trial the two witnesses