41 Rape Offence Charges Last Month, Says ODPP

The following data is authorised for release by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) and relates to the number of formal indictments ( Information) fi led in the High Courts of Fiji by the Director of Public Prosecutions throughout the month of April.

This data is confined to incidents of serious sexual offences only. There were 29 people charged with a total of 57 separate incidents in April.

The offences were rape (41), attempted rape (2), defilement (1) and sexual assault (13). One person under the age of 18 years was charged with two serious sexual offences. There were 26 victims of the 57 separate incidents. There were a total of 15 victims under the age of 18 years.

Of the 15, there were 11 rape victims under the age of 18 years and five sexually assaulted victims who were also under 18 years. There were 14 sexual offences that occurred in domestic settings. There was one serious sexual of- fence that involved a 6 months old baby and the accused person was the biological father. A date rape drug was also used in one of the serious sexual offences.

Additionally, there were four counts of assault with intent to commit rape; 10 counts of abduction with the intent to commit rape and one count of murder as part of the act of rape. (NB: these statistics are not included in the statistics table). Two cases were discontinued be- fore the courts after discontinuances (Nolle Prosequi) were filed.

Refer to the table above for a break-down of these statistics.