A 58-year-old man raped his 14-year-old granddaughter and threatened her with a cane knife in her home in Tailevu.
High Court Judge Justice Daniel Goundar sentenced the rapist to 14 years with a non-parole period of 10 years.
Justice Goundar considered the 12 months the offender spent in remand as a sentence already served.
The incident happened in 2018 when the victim was alone at her home and her father and brother had gone out to their farm, and grandmother was at work.
The offender entered her home uninvited and when he saw the victim lying on a bed, covered her mouth with a pillow to prevent her from raising alarm and raped her.
In her evidence, the victim had described the experience as painful and traumatic. The court heard the offender had threatened to strike her with a cane knife if she complained to anyone. She felt scared and ashamed.
Justice Goundar said the harsh penalty was to deter people from committing such horrendous crimes.
He said the offender breached the victim’s trust and caused significant physical and emotional harm to her.
He said the other aggravating factors were that the victim was a child, she was raped in her home, a pillow was pressed on her face to stop her from raising alarm, the offender did not use any protection and the offender threatened to harm the victim with a cane knife if she complained.
Justice Goundar said the offender had expressed a little remorse for his action.
The offender was issued a permanent domestic violence restraining order.
Edited by Ivamere Nataro
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