Father convicted of raping 13-year-old daughter

The High Court in Suva has found a 39-year-old man was convicted for raping his 13-year-old biological daughter in their home in Navua last year.

The man appeared before Judge Justice Daniel Goundar on Friday with two counts of rape last February 7. It was heard that on that morning, the accused person was at home with his children, the daughter and an 11-year-old son.

He had given the children $15 and told them to stay home.

The court heard that the son was told to go and watch videos in the kitchen while he took his daughter to the room where he committed the crime.

These included the complainant, her brother, and her aunt.

The accused person exercised his rights to remain silent.

In his ruling, the court found the State Prosecution had proven beyond reasonable doubt the charges laid against the accused person.

The court noted that the victim did not give any consent to be treated that way by her father and that the accused lied to the children after telling them to keep the incident a secret as he had already bought a land worth $4, 000 for them.

It was heard that the victim did not heed the fathers advise and went straight to her grandmother and told her what happened.

He will remain in remand awaiting sentencing submission and mitigation.