A man who raped his stepdaughter on multiple occasions has had his appeal against his 16-year sentence refused by the Fiji Court of Appeal.
The accused first committed the offences when the complainant was 12.
Court records showed the victim was about five years old when her parents separated. Her father had abandoned her and had not been in contact with her since.
The first incident was committed between January 1 and October 19, 2014, while the second occurred between October 20 the same year and August 10, 2020.
The accused appealed on the ground that “the sentence is too harsh and excessive, given I’m a first offender”.
“The trial judge had recorded the process leading to the appellant’s ultimate sentence and delivered the sentence of 18 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 12 years and one month a non-parole period of 11 years,” Justice Chandana Prematilaka said in his August 6 ruling.
“The final sentence became 16 years and four months due to a discount for the remand period of one year and eight months.
“The trial judge had by and large not followed the two-tiered system of sentencing but adopted a ‘instinctive synthesis’ method.
“Therefore, applying those principles, I refuse to grant appeal against the sentence.”
