THE brutal killing of a Chinese couple in Honiara a week ago has rekindled calls for the reintroduction of capital punishment.

Honiara City Council Mayor Cnr Andrew Mua made the call saying the frequency of serious crimes such as murder now calls for tougher laws.

Cnr Mua was speaking at a march jointly organised by the FSII and the Solomon Islands Chinese Association in Honiara yesterday afternoon to protest what they described as the ‘barbaric killings’ of Gongzhen Lao and Yuegui Wu on Saturday night of the long Easter weekend.

They were bludgeoned to death with a machete in their rented house only about 200-metres from the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force headquarters at Rove.

Police are still hunting the couple’s killer or killers.

“We need to relook at bringing back hanging to address the situation,” the Mayor said.

“In this regard, I will support any move by the government to do so,” adding the situation now calls for tougher laws such as hanging to counter the crime wave.

Condemning the killing of Mr and Mrs Lao, the Mayor said “killing is not a form of friendship. Only God has the right to take away lives.”

Cnr Mua said he was pleased to see so many residents of Honiara had come together to show their support for measures to stop killing of two peace-loving individuals right in their homes.

Earlier other speakers condemned the killing saying, Solomon Islands must be united to stop “barbaric killings” in this country.

“Enough is enough,” FSII patron, John Kwaita told the crowd as they prepared to make their way from the Art Gallery to the building where the couple was murdered on the Easter weekend.

“We are going to draw the line in the sand and say enough is enough. We must all work together. This kind of thing must stop,” Mr Kwaita said.

FSII president, Benjamin Afuga described the killing as “an act of cruelty which must be condemned in the strongest manner,” adding the rate of barbaric killing is rising.

“Today we marched because we care for humanity. Today we march because we condemn brutal killing. Today we marched because we want a society that is free from barbaric killing,” Mr Afuga said.

“Today we stand here as brothers and sisters bearing different colours of one nation, Solomon Islands.”

He told the crowd the Easter Weekend saw the murder of Mr and Mrs Lao in their home, a man from Guadalcanal was “brutally murdered along a roadside in North Guadalcanal. His eyes were gouged and tongue cut off and left to die, he said.

“There was another suspected murder in the Western Province. A man was allegedly murdered in his garden,” Mr Afuga said.

He said these “brutal murders” prompted FSII to organise the march to raise awareness against such killings. As we always say, no one has the right to take away someone’s life.”