Man sent to prison for rape

A man has been sentenced to four years and seven months imprisonment after admitting to the Court he raped his 14-year-old niece on two occasions.

Simion Kalo, 21, from Walaha Village, Ambae agreed that he raped his niece on the absence of her parents who took her grandmother to Port Vila on medical grounds.

Chief Justice (CJ) Vincent Lunabek said that the man admitted two counts of sexual intercourse contrary to section 90 and 91 of the Penal Code Act CAP 135.

He said that on June 26, 2017 the man pleaded guilty on both counts as charged.

CJ Lunabek said the first incident occurred on October 23, 2015.

He said that the victim was 16 years of age on March 13, 2017 when the second incident occurred and at the time she was attending year 9 at Apostolic College in West Ambae.

He said that both happened in her bedroom after the man entered and sexually attacked her against her will.

He said that on the second occasion she was so afraid and reported the matter to a relative who was around at the time and later the report was launched with the authorities and the man was arrested and he admitted the attack.

A witness who visited the complainant at that time also saw what happened.

The Chief Justice said sexual intercourse without consent carries up to life imprisonment as a penalty.

He said that the offence was aggravated as some degree of planning took place with the offence occurring at the absence of everyone and there was a big breach of trust between the duo.

He said that there was an age disparity of five years when the offence occurred.

“I sentence you to eight years imprisonment as a starting point,” he said.

He said in mitigating factors that Kalo cooperated well with the police and admitted the offence at the first available opportunity.

He said that the man has no previous conviction, has a good work and community history, he was remorseful and regretted his own actions.

“You apologized to the court for your offending and the victim has confirmed that she is physically fine, has forgotten what had happened and she is coping well with her education and life,” he said.

“I reduce your sentence of eight years imprisonment by one third to take into account of your guilty pleas.

“Your sentence is reduced to five years.

“I give your another allowance of three months for your remorsefulness.

“You have already served 64 days in pre-custody period and this has to be deducted also.

“I refuse to give you some allowance to reflect the custom reconciliation you have performed in 2015 for the reason that despite the custom compensation (reconciliation) you ignored it or by-passed it by doing the same offending on the same person again in March 2017.

“I take it that the custom compensation is meaningless.”

He then ordered the man to serve a final sentence of four years and seven months imprisonment on both counts and to be served concurrently.