Sixteen people charged with sexual offences including rape and sexual assault were produced in Fiji’s high court in September, nine of whom including two juveniles were family members of victims.
A 14-year-old boy was charged with the rape and sexual assault of a 4-year-old girl from his village, and a 15-year-old boy was charged with the rape of his 9-year-old niece. In other incidents, a 56-year-old man was charged with the rape of his 14-year-old grandson and a 47-year-old man was charged with the rape, sexual assault, indecent assault, and common assault of his 18-year-old daughter. A 37-year-old man was charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault of his 11-year-old niece while in another incident, a 43-year-old man was charged with the rape and sexual assault of his 14-year-old niece. A 46-year-old man was charged with the representative counts of rape of his 10-year-old niece and two representative counts of rape and indecent assault of his 13-year-old niece. There was one incident where a 46-year-old man was charged with the sexual assault of his 22-year-old niece. A 52-year-old man was charged with the rape and indecent assault of a 5-year-girl from his village.
In other incidents first called in court last month, the third juvenile, a 16-year-old boy was charged with the rape of a 7-year-old girl, and a 37-year-old man was charged with the aggravated robbery and indecent assault of a 46-year-old woman. There was an incident where a 23-year-old man was charged with the rape and sexual assault of his 18-year-old girlfriend, however, this matter was discontinued after the victim could not be contacted or located.
In total, there were 17 victims, with 11 of them being under 18, including a 15-year-old boy who was the sole male victim.
