Rapes must stop, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said in Navua yesterday.

He was commenting on the brutal sex attack on a nine-year-old in Nakasi near Nausori last Tuesday.

He said he had been reliably informed that there was one rape a day in Fiji.

He made a passionate plea to churches and community leaders to do something to stop rapes.

He said the incident in Nakasi “reminds us that there is something terribly wrong with us… in the values that we have.”

He said we talk a lot about religious values.

“We must stop this horrifying crime. We feel for the parents, we feel for this little nine-year-old girl,” he said.

“We want harsher penalties. I am a parent and grandparent. I feel for this little girl. We must do something. Let’s continue to talk about getting rid of such incidents.

“To you parents, leaders in our villages, to the Roko and Public Administrators, I beg you please – to the church ministers, community leaders; we need to talk about this everyday from now on.

“Talk to our villages of how horrifying these incidents are in our society,” Mr Bainimarama said.

“When we want to move forward, we must move away from this quickly. We are here as a result of one of Government’s programmes about moving forward so as to improve our sources of income.

“We all go to church every Sunday, I’m sure the two who conducted these acts are church goers .…but there is something different that is being told, so please let’s continue to talk to end incidents like this.”

He was in Navua to hand over cheques to 126 people to start their small businesses.

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