HIGH Court judge Justice Aruna Aluthge has convicted a juvenile of one count of rape and one of attempted rape.
The offender was initially charged with one count of rape and two separate counts of attempted rape. He was acquitted of the second charge of attempted rape.
The court heard the offender committed the offences between August 1 and August 31, 2023, when the complainant was five years old.
The offender denied the charges, and in the ensuing trial opted to remain silent.
In court, the complainant said the offender committed the offences when she visited his house in 2023 as they were neighbours. She said the offender told her not to tell anybody about it, but she later told her friend, who advised her to tell her mother.
Justice Aluthge said the complainant’s mother testified she was first informed of the incidents on August 9, 2023. She then testified that the offender and his mother visited her to seek forgiveness.
The court heard the complainant’s mother had felt the apology was insincere as the offender could not maintain eye contact.
The incident was reported to the police a month later.
Justice Aluthge said the court had found the evidence of the complainant to be consistent, and her demeanour was also consistent with that of an honest child witness.
“She (complainant’s mother) had waited for her husband to come from Suva, where he worked, because it was a sensitive matter,”Justice Aluthge said.
The court heard that making a complaint of a sexual nature against the offender, whose family was closely associated with the complainant’s, would not have been easy for the complainant’s mother.
Justice Aluthge said the delay in reporting the complaint was reasonably explained and that there was no suggestion that the complaint or her mother made up this allegation.
The offender’s sentencing will be set at a later date.
