A 22-year-old Lautoka man who is serving a life sentence for murder had an additional sentence of 14 years and 11 months added after being con­victed of raping and sexually assaulting his 12-year-old cousin in 2013.

The life sentence carried a minimum term of 18 years after which he was eligible for parole.

The accused was charged with two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault. He appeared before Justice Sunil Sharma for sentencing on October 12.

The case

On the first occasion, the man had lured the victim into a vacant house and raped her sometime in De­cember 2013. On the second occasion, he called her to a nearby creek where he sexually assaulted her after giv­ing her $10. On the third occasion, he took her to that vacant house where he raped her and gave her another $10, warning her not to tell anyone.

On February 22, 2014, he called her again from the same vacant house while she was on her way to her aunt to get panadol. While trying to get her undressed, the victim’s mother interrupted them by calling out to her. The victim went home and told her mother every­thing after which the Police were called and he was ar­rested on February 24, 2014.

In mitigation, the accused said he was married but separated and had a seven-year-old son. He told the court that he was the sole breadwinner, sought lenien­cy and did not use violence to make the victim submit to his unlawful acts.

Justice Sharma said the aggravating factors were that there was a breach of trust.

“The accused breached the trust of a helpless child,” Justice Sharma said.

Other aggravating factors were the age difference and that offence showed a certain degree of planning.

He said the sentence was to run concurrent with the life sentence and that the accused was facing “in ac­cordance with the totality principle of sentencing to avoid any crushing effect on the accused.”

Edited by Caroline Ratucadra

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