A Fiji Navy personnel, who was accused of raping an underage girl after they met on Facebook, has been discharged from the case.

The man appeared before Justice Thushara Rajasinghe at the High Court in Suva yesterday.

He was charged with one count of rape, however, the prosecutor from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Sadaf Shameem, filed a nolle prosequi to discontinue the proceedings against the accused.

It was alleged that on September 30, 2019, in Suva, the man and the complainant were friends on Facebook and planned to meet for barbecue on the night.

They had dinner and later went to a motel in Suva.

After that, the complainant went to the Suva market to check on her uncle to go home with him, however, her uncle had already left for home.

The complainant then went to the Suva Market Police Post and requested to use their phone to call her uncle to ask him for taxi fare.

The Police officers questioned the complainant about why she was out late at night, but the complainant remained silent.

The officers then asked her where she was at night to which she told them that she was out for dinner with her friend.

The officers told her that they would drop her home in the Police vehicle, however, she denied and accused the friend of raping her.

Justice Rajasinghe dismissed the proceedings against the man and discharged him from the charge of rape.

Edited by Jonathan Bryce

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