Stepfather pleads not guilty to rape

A 44-year-old man who is alleged to have committed sexual offences on his stepdaughter has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The accused appeared before Justice Daniel Goundar at the High Court in Suva yesterday charged with one representative count of sexual assault and one representative count of rape.

It is alleged between February 1, 2016 and March 31, 2018 at Suva, the accused unlawfully and indecently assaulted his stepdaughter.

It is also alleged that between March 1, 2018 and November 20, 2019, at Suva, he raped his stepdaughter.

The complainant is now 18 years old.

State prosecutor Sadaf Shameem told the court that the state would rely on the caution interview statement of the accused.

Defence counsel Krishneel Gosai told the court that the defence would be calling alibi witnesses in the matter and would be filing the notice of alibi within seven days.

He also raised that his client (the accused) had received a call from a person claiming to be from the registry asking for $4000 to remove the accused’s file.

Justice Goundar said the issue raised was of no concern to the current charges, and that it was probably that the accused was scammed by people hanging around the court premises.

The matter was adjourned to September 4.

Ashna Kumar