A MAN who sexually abused his five-year-old niece has been sentenced to nine years in prison recently in the High Court.
The man in his 20’s who could not be named to protect his niece’s identity was sentenced after the High Court convicted him of one count of sexual intercourse with a child under 13 years.
Justice John Keniapisia, when sentencing the defendant, said the people of this country through their Parliament have strongly condemned this kind of sexual intercourse by adult men in positions of trust against very vulnerable young girls, by prescribing a punishment of life imprisonment.
“You should know that what you did to your niece (complainant) was wrong, unacceptable and indecent in custom, ecclesiastical or under the 2016 Act,” Justice Keniapisia told the defendant.
“Parliament has taken a decisive strong stand against the prevalence of sexual offending by the enactment of the 2016 Act.
“The 2016 Act introduced new sexual offences and increased the punishment.
But it seems the High Court is not taking serious attention by imposing lenient sentences for sexual offending under the 2016 Act,” he added.
He said at the last sitting, the Court of Appeal urged the High Court to impose higher sentences for sexual offending under the 2016 Act, most especially offences under Section 139 (1).
He said one way to achieve that is to use the sentencing guidelines set by the Court of Appeal in cases such as Pana (2013).
He said he had focused on the sentencing guidelines Court of Appeal set out in Pana.
Justice Keniapisia further added that he did not consider the High Court’s comparative sentencing precedents for similar offending because the High Court has been imposing very lenient sentences.
“That to me is not paying serious attention to a serious societal issue Parliament identified in the 2016 Act (issue of non-protection or inadequate protection of women and children).
“The Court of Appeal was very concerned about the High Court’s lenient sentencing attitude referring to it as “…manifestly inadequate sentences for sexual offending…” (Rex V Liufirara (2023) Criminal Appeal Case No. 30 of 2022, paragraph 5 (28th April 2023).”
Justice Keniapisia told the defendant that the offence he was convicted of is considered contrary to community standards of decency.
“You have robbed a very young girl of her decency, dignity and virginity.
“You have defiled a very young girl, your own relative and neighbour of her dignity.
“Facts showed that the family of the complainant were renting your parents’ house at Tulagi.
“Your small house is located at the back of their rented house.”
The defendant was told that his house should be a “safe haven” for his niece.
“Instead, you lied to her using a “paper bird,” attracted her into the privacy of your house and robbed her of her dignity,” Justice Keniapisia told the defendant.
He also considered the psychological harm to the child and her parents, which he said he must take judicial notice of despite no available evidence from an expert.
He then imposed a nine-year imprisonment sentence which he said is to act as deterrence for the defendant and like-minded offenders placed in his shoes (male adult in a position of trust to the young vulnerable victim).
“Please come out a rehabilitated person,” he said.
The sentence was backdated to May 2022, when the defendant was first placed in custody.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
Solomon Star, Honiara
