Fourteen other suspects who allegedly raped the same victim on multiple occasions are still at large, ODPP reveals.

There was an alleged incident of gang rape recorded last month where four accused persons were charged with the rape of an 11-year-old girl, new sta­tistics have revealed.

The Office of the Director of Pub­lic Prosecutions (ODPP) rape and sexual offences statistics also re­vealed that fourteen other suspects who allegedly raped the same vic­tim on multiple occasions are still at large.

The following data is authorised for release by the ODPP and relates to the number of formal indict­ments (Information) filed in the High Courts of Fiji by the Director of Public Prosecutions throughout the month. This data is confined to incidents of serious sexual offenc­es only.

There were 29 people charged with a total of 48 counts of separate in­cidents in February. The offences were rape (36), attempted rape (1), abduction with intent to have car­nal knowledge (2), assault with in­tent to rape (1), indecent assault (1), defilement (1) and sexual assault (6).

Five accused persons charged with rape offences were under the age of 18 years.

There were 26 victims of the 48 al­leged separate incidents of whom 14 victims were under the age of 18 years.

There were 12 alleged incidents where the victims and the accused were related to one another.

In one alleged incident a 59-year-old church pastor was charged with rape and sexual assault of his 16- year-old niece, however this matter was discontinued after the victim could not be located.

There were three separate alleged incidents where stepfathers were charged with rape and attempted rape of their stepdaughters.

In one alleged incident a 38-year-old man was charged with the rape of his 19-year-old stepdaughter and in another matter a 30-year-old man was charged with two counts of rape of his 22-year-old stepdaugh­ter while another 38-year-old man was charged with attempted rape of his 13-year-old stepdaughter. He was also charged with one count of abduction.

There were three alleged sepa­rate incidents where uncles were charged with rapes of their nieces and nephew.

Two 17-year-old males were charged with rape of their six and eight-year-old nieces while a 23-year-old man was charged with rape of his 15-year-old nephew.

A 33-year-old man who was earlier charged with rape and sexual as­sault of his four-year-old stepsister was additionally charged with an­other count of sexual assault of the same victim.

There was one alleged inci­dent where a 24-year-old man was charged with the rape of his 17-year-old cousin.

There were two alleged incidents of marital rape. In one of the two alleged incidents, the husband was also charged with assault, criminal intimidation and breach of DVRO. (NB: The offences of assault crimi­nal intimidation and breach of DVRO are recorded separately).

In another alleged incident an 18-year-old man was charged with the rape of a 24-year-old female whereby two other suspects in this case are still at large.

There was one alleged incident where a 45-year-old church usher was charged with rape and inde­cent assault of a 12-year-old girl. The alleged incident occurred on church premises in Lami.

There was one alleged incident where a 37-year-old woman was raped by a 26-year-old man dur­ing a break-in. The accused is also charged with aggravated robbery and burglary.

(NB: The offences of aggravated robbery and burglary are recorded separately).

There was one alleged incident where a 43-year-old New Zealander was raped by a 29-year-old man on a yacht and in another alleged inci­dent a 21-year-old female was raped by a 26-year-old man at a hotel in the Western Division.

The accused in this case was also charged with theft. (NB: The of­fence of theft is recorded separate­ly).

Four cases were withdrawn after discontinuances (Nolle Prosequi) were filed. One of the cases was dis­continued due to a false complaint and the other three were discon­tinued due to insufficient evidence and the victims not being located.

Refer to the table entitled ODPP Rape and Sexual Offences Febru­ary 2018 for a break-down of these statistics.

Source: ODPP

Please note that a number of rape victims as well as victims under the age of 18 years and victims in a do­mestic relationship were also vic­tims of other serious sexual offenc­es. Similarly, a number of accused persons were also charged with more than one offence. The same ap­plies to the number of Nolle Prosequi and domestic cases.