Fiji Court jails father of three for raping niece

A FATHER of three was yesterday sentenced to more than 13 years in prison by the High Court in Lautoka for raping his niece.The 45-year-old man was unanimously found not guilty by the assessors of the trial for the three counts of rape he is facing. However, trial judge Justice Aruna Aluthge overturned the assessors’ opinions and found the man guilty on all three counts.“Victim is from a broken family. She was in a vulnerable position at your house and workplace. You exploited her vulnerability,” Justice Aluthge said. The Court was told that the victim who was 17-years-old when the acts were done on her in 2013 became pregnant, however, an abortion was facilitated to put everything under the carpet. The final sentence handed down by Justice Aluthge was 13 years, 10 months and 15 days and the man will be eligible for parole after serving 10 years in prison.