Child abandons rape case after six-year court delay

A 12-year-old survivor has walked away from the justice system after waiting six years for her alleged rape case to be heard in court; a case that Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Nancy Tikoisuva said exposed the harsh reality of Fiji’s overloaded criminal justice system.

The girl was six years old when her uncle allegedly attempted to rape her.

The case was filed in November 2020. Six years later, it was withdrawn, not because the evidence was weak, but because the child said she no longer wanted to relive the trauma.

“She said, ‘I don’t want to. I’ve come to court all this time, but it’s been shifted’, to facilitate what you and I might perceive as high-profile cases,” Ms Tikoisuva said yesterday during the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ first media engagement workshop.

The case had reached trial stage several times in the Nasinu Magistrate Court but was repeatedly vacated.

The child, now 12, told lawyers she wanted to forget the matter. Her mother said the case had dragged on for too long.

Ms Tikoisuva said this was not an isolated case and warned that prioritising high-profile matters — often driven by public and media pressure — pushed vulnerable victims, especially children, further down the queue.

“This is how media can shift and actually influence people’s access to justice,” she said.

The accused can still be recharged if the victim and her family decide to pursue the matter and new evidence emerges.

Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Sashi Kiran said the Government was pushing for child sexual abuse cases to be dealt with within six months to a year and was working with the judiciary and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions towards that goal.

“We are very gutted by this,” Ms Kiran said, adding that more than 100 community counsellors had been trained to provide immediate psychosocial support to child abuse victims.

A national action plan on violence against children is also being developed.