Exposing a child to sexual activities at a time when they are in transition to maturity has a negative impact on a child’s development.

These were the words of Justice Sunil Sharma at the High Court in Lautoka last Thursday when sentencing a 70-year-old man for the rape of his granddaughter.

The man was sentenced to 14 years and eight months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 11 years.

The man was convicted and sentenced for one count of rape.

The charges

Between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2012, at Sigatoka, the accused raped the teenager.

The victim was 16-years-old at the time of the offence and alone at her grandparents’ home when the incident happened.

The accused had visited the victim’s house in search of her grandparents.

The victim told him that they were not at home.

Upon hearing this, the man told the victim to remove her clothes as he wanted to touch her body. He then raped her.

The victim begged the accused to stop because she was in pain, but he continued to rape her.

The accused had forceful sexual intercourse with the victim on three occasions without her consent.

On each occasion, the man had threatened the victim not to tell anyone.

As a result, she did not tell anyone.

However, in 2015, when the victim’s mother came to live with her, she told her mother about what the man had done to her. The man is the maternal grandfather of the victim.

Sentencing

In passing sentence, Justice Sharma said the victim and the man were related to each other and the victim was vulnerable, alone and unsuspecting, and the man had breached the trust of the victim by what he did to her.

“At your advanced age you were supposed to be a role model but this was not to be due to your lust and sexual gratification. You cannot be forgiven for what you have done to this victim.

“Exposing a child to sexual activities at a time when they are in transition to maturity has a negative impact upon a child’s development. Your conduct on the victim is unthinkable and deplorable a long-term imprisonment is the only answer,” Justice Sharma said.

The man was given 30 days to appeal to the Fiji Court of Appeal.

Edited by Caroline Ratucadra

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