Man, 28, Convicted For Sexual Assault and Rape

Arape accused was told in the Lautoka High Court on Monday that he was evasive and not straightforward and that his version of events was not appealing to the Court.

The 28-year-old accused was found guilty and convicted for one count of sexual assault and two counts of rape.

On September 7, 2016, the accused unlawfully and indecently assaulted the 18-year-old complainant before raping her.

The judgment revealed that the accused took a position of denial, however; he admitted to having sex with the complainant but with her consent.

The complainant was a teenager at the time of the offence and was schooling at a College in Lautoka. At the material time, she was staying at with her uncle and aunt because of her studies.

The accused was a close friend of her uncle who used to visit the uncle’s house to repair his car. The complainant and the accused used to attend the same church. On the day of the incident at about 10am, the complainant went to buy washing powder from the neighbourhood shop.

On her way, she met the accused who offered to give her a lift to the shop.

He then drove her to town on the pretext that they would buy washing powder in town however he took her past a bridge at Saru Flame Tree Road where he stopped the car.

He did not dispute during trial that after he stopped the car he started kissing the complainant and made a ‘love bite’ on her neck. He then took the girl to his house at Abaca.

In her evidence, the complainant said she did not want to interrupt his driving and risk an accident by raising an alarm.

She said she could not escape because she was feeling weak and that she could not see any house or any sign of human habitation around the house.

The Court heard that the complainant was screaming and kicking when the accused was trying to have sex with her but no one went to her rescue.

Judge Justice Aruna Aluthge said the accused had ample time to give evidence when the Prosecution closed their case however he wanted to buy time and even sought a sleepover at the Police cell giving various reasons including ill health.

“He came with a well-prepared story to counter the arguments of the prosecution’s version of events,” he said.

He said the accused’s conduct and demeanour were not consistent with honesty.

The accused will be sentenced at a later date.