A man in his late 40s who raped and indecently assaulted a 14-year-old girl in Nadi two years ago has been sentenced to nearly 15 years behind bars.
Court documents showed that the man who is the victim’s step uncle threatened the teenager with a knife before he committed the offence in the early hours of Monday, 27 July.
In sentencing the man Lautoka High Court Judge Justice Thusara Rajasinghe said instead of caring and looking after the victim, he “manipulatively used her naivety in childhood to satisfy [his] lustful sexual gratification”.
“By committing this crime, you have exposed this fourteen-year-old child to sexual activities at a very young age, thus preventing her from having a natural growth of maturity in her life,” Justice Rajasinghe said.
The man’s counsel submitted his personal and family background in her mitigation submission, both of which except for his early guilty plea and previous good character Justice Rajasinghe disregarded, saying that it had no mitigatory value.
The man was sentenced to 14 years and seven months imprisonment and is not eligible for parole until he has served 12 years and seven months.
