THE High Court in Lautoka has sentenced a 67-year-old man to 15 years in jail for raping his daughter.

The elderly man will need to serve 12 years before he may be eligible for parole.

Justice Aruna Aluthge said in his judgment the man committed the offences between January 1, 2002, and December 31 that same year when his daughter was 12 years old.

He said the man had carved a hole in her bedroom floor and committed the offence several times. He’d also warned her against telling anybody.

The court heard she eventually lodged a report with the police in June, 2023.

In mitigation, the man’s lawyer submitted that his client is a first offender, is 67 years old and a father of seven: and he had no previous convictions.

Justice Aluthge said the aggravating case factors were that the man subjected his daughter to a series of threats after committing the offence in 2002; he’d exposed an innocent mind to sexual activity and that there was an age disparity of 30 years between the two — she was 12 and he was in his 40s.

The court heard the offences were also premeditated since he’d made an opening in her bedroom floor so that he could gain access to her.

The man has 30 days to appeal against his sentence at the Court of Appeal in Suva.