Timoci Vula, July 26: A FATHER of two who was convicted for raping his female workmate was jailed for four years by the High Court in Lautoka yesterday.
The 26-year-old man was found guilty of one count of rape by majority opinions of the assessors in Lautoka last week.
The High Court heard that the man and the 27-year-old victim had known each other as they had both worked at the same resort for about three months.
On January 20 early this year, the woman, a mother of two, returned home after dinner at her sister-in-law’s place and went to bed at around 10pm beside her daughter on a mattress in the sole bedroom in her house.
The court heard that she heard someone moving around outside followed by a voice calling. On enquiry, she said she later identified the person to be the accused with the help of the light emanating from the neighbour’s house.
The court heard that the woman asked the man why he had come there on that night but without replying to the question, he instead asked her to open the door for him to come in.
It heard that the man wanted to sleep that night in the woman’s house because he had to start work at 8am the following day.
“The victim said that he could not sleep at hers as there were no boys to which the accused replied ‘okay, set’ and went up to the door and closed it,” Justice Priyantha Nawana said.
“After closing the door, the accused, without sitting at the place where he was sitting, got closer to BX (accused) and sat right opposite to her. The accused, according to the victim, was drunk,” Justice Nawana said in his sentencing address.
The court also heard that the accused then pulled the victim towards him and started kissing her cheeks and lips, and when she asked what he was doing, the man without replying pulled her and repeated kissing her before pushing her back to make her lie down. It also heard that when the woman started crying and pleaded to stop, the accused continued.
“It is in light of this evidence that the accused stands convicted for the offence of rape. The offence, in terms of Section 207 of the Crimes Decree, attracts a maximum punishment of imprisonment for life,” Justice Nawana said. “The offence of rape for which the accused stands convicted inevitably attracts a sentence of imprisonment,” he said. He added he held the view that it was inappropriate to fix a non-parole period on the term of imprisonment.
–Agencies–