A man who posed as a prayer warrior for a Christian church was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for a count of digital rape by the High Court in Lautoka this week.

Jagdish Chand Reddy, 37, visited the victim’s place and introduced himself as ‘Brother Jack,’ and pretended that he could pray for the victim so she could have children.

The complainant agreed to this believing she could bear children.

However in false pretence of praying, the accused rapes the victim using his fingers.

Judge Justice Aruna Aluthge, while sentencing the accused, said beliefs in traditional witchcraft; spiritual therapies were still imbedded in the Fijian way of life.

The judge said the courts must not allow sex perverts to exploit innocent, unsuspecting people, especially women who seek solace in such beliefs.

Reddy is a divorcee with two children earning $120 a week from farming and broom-making. He is suffering from permanent visual and hearing disabilities after being involved in a motor vehicle accident.

However Justice Aluthge said the aggravating factor was that the offender took advantage of the naivety and the vulnerability of the complainant when she was alone at home.

He added the accused also disguised himself as a member of a church and used religion to fraudulently mislead an unsuspecting woman.

Justice Aluthge sentenced the offender to seven years imprisonment with a non-parole period of five years.