Man gets three years, four months sexual assault of girl, 3

High Court in Suva judge, Justice Riyaz Hamza said the sexual assault of children by close family members manipulated the family environment and the relationship between the accused and the victim.

He said this while sentencing a 32-year-old man to three years and four months for an alternative charge of sexual assault.

On March 16 this year the accused sexually assaulted his de facto partner’s adoptive threeyear-old daughter at their Pacific Harbour home. Justice Hamza said it had been proved that the accused touched the complainant’s private parts with his finger. He took a starting point of two years imprisonment for sexual assault and added five years imprisonment for the aggravating factors. The accused was in a seven-year de facto relationship with the intended adoptive mother. Justice Hamza said the complainant considered the accused as her father and being her intended adoptive father he should have protected her, instead he breached the trust expected of him which was gross.

The girl was only three-years-and-10-monthsold at the time of the incident.

“You took advantage of the complainant’s vulnerability, helplessness and naivety. You have exposed the innocent mind of the child to sexual activity at such a tender age,” he said. Further the court noted that the accused had four previous convictions, however none of which were of a sexual nature.

Justice Hamza said the court considered the accused as a person of good character.

The accused submitted in his mitigation that he was remorseful for his actions, which the court accepted as genuine.

Justice Hamza deducted three years from the sentence for mitigating factors, which brought the sentence to four years imprisonment then deducted an additional eight months for time served in remand.

He ordered that the accused serve two years and four months imprisonment before he could apply for parole.