Fiji Sun

ODPP STATS: 15-YEAR-OLD BOYS CHARGED WITH RAPE, AMONG 22 OFFENDERS OF SERIOUS SEXUAL OFFENCES

- Source: Office of the Director of Public Prosecutio­ns

Three 15-year-old boys were among 22 people charged with serious sexual offences for the month of Decemer 2021. The teenagers were charged with rape.

In a report released by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutio­ns (ODPP) yesterday, it revealed that a 15-year-old boy was charged with the rape of his six-year-old niece.

There were also two separate incidents where two 15-year-old boys were charged with the rape of a nine-year-old boy and a seven-yearold girl from their village.

The DPP has sanctioned the charges for the same and the file has been sent to Police to formally charge the juveniles.

Data

The following data was authorised for release by the 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. This data is confined to incidents of serious sexual offences only.

A breakdown of the offences are outlined below:

There were 22 people charged with a total of 60 counts of separate incidents in December.

The offences were rape (41), attempted rape (2), indecent assault (2), defilement (1) and sexual assault (14).

There were 21 victims of whom 18 victims were under the age of 18 years. There were 18 female victims and three male victims.

Of the 22 accused persons, six were juveniles.

A 17-year-old boy was charged with the rape, sexual assault and indecent assault of a nine-year-old girl, two 10-year-old girls and an

11-year-old girl. The accused is the uncle of two of the victims.

He was also charged with two counts of indecently annoying. (NB: The offence of indecently annoying is recorded separately).

There was one incident where a 16-year-old boy was charged with the rape of a 14-year-old girl from his village.

There was one incident where a 17-year-old boy was charged with burglary and attempted rape.

The accused allegedly broke into a house and attempted to rape a three-year-old girl.

(NB: The offence of burglary is recorded separately).

There were six incidents where the victim and the accused were related to one another.

A 61-year-old man was charged with five representa­tive counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault of his 14-year-old stepdaught­er.

The accused allegedly started raping his stepdaught­er when she was 10-years-old.

In another incident, a 37-year-old man was charged with four counts of rape and four counts of sexual assault of his 15-year-old stepdaught­er. A 53-year-old man was charged with four counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and two counts of sexual assault of his 18-year-old niece.

There was one incident of gang rape where two 19-year-old men, one 18-year-old man, a 21-year-old man and a 24-year-old man were charged with the rape of a 24-yearold woman. One of the accused was the uncle while the others were the victim’s cousins.

A 32-year-old man was charged with the rape and sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl.

The accused was the security guard at the victim’s family home.

There was one incident where a 21-year-old man was charged with the rape and sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl while in another incident a 21-year-old man was charged with the rape of a 29-yearold woman from his village.

An 18-year-old man was charged with the defilement of a 14-year-old girl after a drinking party.

A 50-year-old man was charged with the rape of a 13-year-old boy from his village.

A 39-year-old man was charged with the rape and sexual assault of an 11-year-old boy, however, this matter was discontinu­ed after the death of the accused.

A 47-year-old man was charged with the rape of a 16-year-old girl, however, this matter was discontinu­ed after the victim admitted to making a false complaint.

 ?? Source: ODPP ?? Please note that a number of rape victims as well as victims under the age of 18 years and victims in domestic relationsh­ip were also victims of other serious sexual offences. Similarly, a number of accused persons were also charged with more than one offence.
Source: ODPP Please note that a number of rape victims as well as victims under the age of 18 years and victims in domestic relationsh­ip were also victims of other serious sexual offences. Similarly, a number of accused persons were also charged with more than one offence.

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