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State v Ravu [2012] FJHC 1066; HAC023.2012 (9 May 2012)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF FIJI
AT LABASA
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

Criminal Case No: HAC 023 of 2012

THE STATE

v.

SEMI RAVU

Counsel: Mr. M. Maitava for State
Ms. M. Lemaki for Accused

Date of Sentence: 9 May 2012

SENTENCE

[1] Semi Ravu, you stand convicted of rape on your own guilty plea. The offence was committed at Lavena village in Taveuni. The victim is a child aged 12 years.

[2] Rape is a serious offence. The seriousness of the offence is marked by the maximum penalty of life imprisonment provided by the Crimes Decree. In Drotini v The State [2006] FCA 26; AAU0001.2005S (24 March 2006), the Court of Appeal, after noting an increase in crime of rape against children, increased the starting point for sentence from 7 to 10 years' imprisonment. The tariff for rape of a child is between 10 to 14 years imprisonment (Mutch v State, Cr. App. AAU0060/99, Mani v State, Cr. App. No. HAA0053/02L, State v Saitava, Cr. Case No. HAC10/07, State v Marawa, Cr. Case No. 016/03, State v Tony, Cr. App. No. HAA003/08).

[3] The facts are that on the evening of 3 February 2012, you approached the victim when she was returning home after watching a movie at her grandfather's house. You lured her to the seashore. You took her into an empty boat and undressed her. You kissed her mouth and vagina. You then penetrated her vagina with your penis. She told you the experience was painful but you continued to penetrate.

[4] Subsequently, the victim relayed the incident to her parents. You were interviewed under caution. You confessed. You have been in custody since 2 March 2012.

[5] You are 45 years old and single. You left school after class 3. Most of your adult life, you worked as a farmer. You have told this Court through your counsel, that you were grog (kava) doped which led you to commit this offence.

[6] By pleading guilty, you have relieved the victim from giving evidence, which could have been a distasteful experience for her. You have also saved the court time and resources by entering an early guilty plea. I consider your early confession to the police and your early guilty plea as evidence of remorse for your offence. You had an untarnished character until you committed this crime. All these factors mitigate your offence.

[7] I accept that the offence was committed without threats or use of violence. But, I cannot lose sight of the fact that the victim was of a very tender age. You were an adult. The age gap between you and the victim and the fact that you were a fellow villager must have intimidated the victim to surrender to your sexual advances. These factors aggravated the offence.

[8] No evidence of victim trauma has been led by the State. Therefore, I cannot assess the long term effect of rape on the victim at this stage.

[9] The purposes of sentence that apply in your case are to denounce your offence and to deter you and others from committing offences of this nature. Your punishment must reflect the society's disapproval of your conduct.

[10] I use 10 years as my starting point. I add 4 years to reflect the aggravating factors. I reduce 4 years to reflect the guilty plea and 2 years to reflect your personal circumstances, previous good character and remand period.

[11] I sentence you to 8 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 6 years.

Daniel Goundar
JUDGE

At Labasa
Wednesday 9 May 2012

Solicitors:
Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for State
Office of the Legal Aid Commission for Accused