RAPE CHARGE

STATISTICS FOR OCTOBER Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions

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) filed in the High Courts of Fiji by the Director of Public Prosecutions throughout the month of October. This data is confined to incidents of serious sexual offences only.

There were 27 people charged with a total of 49 separate incidents in October. The offences were rape (33) and sexual assault (16).

Of the 27 people charged, four were under the age of 18 years. Two 15-year-old boys were charged with one count of rape of a 13-yearold girl, one 15-year-old boy was charged with one count of rape and one count of sexual assault of his 10-year-old cousin while another accused aged 14 years was charged with one count of rape of a nineyear-old boy.

There were 23 victims of the 49 separate incidents of whom 19 victims were under the age of 18 years. There was one incident where an 11-year-old girl fell pregnant after she was allegedly raped by three men in the Northern division.

In another separate incident, a 28-year-old man was charged with the sexual assault of a 12-year-old boy.

There was one incident where a 22-year-old man was charged with one count of rape of a 68-year-old woman.

There were 13 incidents where the accused and the victims were related to each other.

In one incident a 28-year-old is alleged to have raped and sexually assaulted his eight-year-old biological daughter and in another incident a 33-year-old man is alleged to have raped and sexually assaulted his four-year-old stepsister. There was one incident where a 57-year-old is alleged to have raped his 10-yearold granddaughter. There were five separate incidents where the accused persons have been charged for allegedly raping their nieces. There were two separate incidents where the accused persons were also charged with assault causing actual bodily harm.

(NB: The offences of assault causing actual bodily harm are recorded separately).

Five cases were withdrawn after discontinuances (Nolle Prosequi) were filed.

Of these five, three were withdrawn due to the inability to locate the accused persons; one was withdrawn after the death of the accused person while another case was withdrawn due to significant inconsistencies in the complainant’s statements.

Refer to the table entitled ODPP Rape and Sexual Offences October 2017 for a breakdown of these statistics.