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R v Hoanidani [2025] SBHC 127; HCSI-CRC 83 of 2024 (28 August 2025)

HIGH COURT OF SOLOMON ISLANDS

IN THE HIGH COURT OF SOLOMON ISLANDS
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

Criminal Case No. 83 of 2024

REX

V

ASHLEY JOASH HOANIDANI

Date of Hearing: 15 August 2025
Date of Decision: 28 August 2025

Counsel; Mr Auga for the Crown
Counsel; Mr Ma’ungatonu for the Defendant

VERDICT AND SENTENCE

1. By information filed on 5/3/2024, Mr. Ashley Joash Hoanidani (AJH), was charged for persistent sexual abuse of a child contrary to Section 142 (2) and Section 136F (1) (a) & (b) of the Penal Code Act (Cap 26), as amended by the Penal Code (Amendment) (Sexual Offences) Act 2016 (No. 3 of 2016).
2. The indictment relates to four separate incidents between 1 January 2020 and 28 February 2023. Mr. AJH entered a guilty plea on 15/08/2025 to the charge of persistent sexual abuse premised on the following agreed facts, reproduced here below from paragraphs 3 to 7.
3. The defendant is Mr. AJH. He comes from Bauúraha village, Ward 6, Arosi 2, Makira/Ulawa Province. The complaint is Ms. Judella Tegu (JT). She is related to AJH as his granddaughter. She lived with AJH, her grandfather after her parents died. AJH persistently sexually abused JT on four separate occasions at his house at Bwauraha village.

Incident 1

4. On an unknown date in the month of September 2020, at Bwauraha village, AJH told JT to go inside the bedroom. AJH followed JT into the room. When they were inside the room, AJH told JT to lie down with him on the bed. Whilst on the bed, AJH took out his erected penis and told JT to masturbate him. After she masturbated him, AJH stood up and told JT to lie down and remove her skirt. AJH then fondled her breasts and her vagina.

Incident 2

5. The second incident occurred on an unknown date in June 2021. AJH repeated the same actions by asking JT for sex. AJH told JT to go to the room and he followed after her. He told JT to lie down on the bed. He further told JT to masturbate him. AJH then fondled her breasts and inserted his finger and penis into her vagina.

Incident 3

6. The third incident occurred on an unknown date in May 2022. AJH told JT to masturbate him. He also used his right hand to fondle her breasts and played with her vagina. AJH then widened JT’s legs, lay on top of her and penetrated his erect penis into her vagina and had sexual intercourse with her. Inside the same month, JT noticed that she got pregnant. She was in her 8^th months of pregnancy.

Incident 4

7. The fourth incident occurred between 1 January 2023 and 28 February 2023. AJH forced JT into the room. AJH told JT to masturbate him. He removed her clothes, fondled her breasts, and played with her vagina using his fingers. AJH then lay on top of JT, pushed his erect penis into her vagina and had sexual intercourse with her.

Gravity of this offending

8. This crime is a serious offence as reflected in the maximum penalty of life imprisonment (Section 142 (2) and Section 136F (1) (a) and (b)). I will place the gravity of this offence at the higher scale because it involves sexual intercourse with a young child (9 years old at the time of the first incident), a serious betrayal of trust (grandfather and granddaughter) and subsequent pregnancy (the victim will face unimaginable hardship to raise up a child without support from a father figure head). This crime also shows how social values and moral standards are fast decaying in our society. Persons in position of trust to their female relative victims become lustful and choose to submit to their sexual gratifications rather than to uphold moral and family values.
9. Trust betrayal, a very young-aged victim and subsequent pregnancy are peculiar circumstances of this case. The victim will face life long hardship as a single mother raising a child without the support from a father as I alluded to above. For these reasons, I will depart from the normal starting point sentence of 8 years and start at 12 years. This is permissible according to Pana Court of Appeal 2013 and Soni Court of Appeal 2013, where I am obliged to give reasons for the departure. The starting point sentence of 8 years is for unlawful sexual intercourse with a child under 15 years or for an offence under Section 136F. Here the victim was 9 years old at the time of the first incident. And this is an offence under Section 136F. Defence conceded with the 8 years starting point sentence. I am grateful always when defence counsel does this because the Court of Appeal has laid down clear and binding sentencing tariffs in cases like Sinatau, Court of Appeal 2023.
10. I identify the following serious aggravating factors: -
    • (i) Breach of position of trust.
    • (ii) Age disparity.
    • (iii) Pre-planning.
    • (iv) Weak and vulnerable.
    • (v) Physical harm/injury (rape is physical violence of the victim).
    • (vi) Young aged victim.
    • (vii) Psychological harm and trauma.
    • (viii) Abuse committed in the home at night.
    • (ix) Subsequent pregnancy.
    • (x) Repetitive offending.
11. For all of the above 10 serious aggravating factors combined I will uplift the starting point sentence by 10 more years (1 year for each aggravating factor). Increases due to serious aggravating factors should be made in years and not merely in weeks and months (Bade, Court of Appeal 2023). That will bring me to 22 years aggravated head sentence before mitigation.
12. I identify the following mitigating factors to reduce the aggravated head sentence downwards: -
    • (i) Early guilty plea – this is not genuine early guilty plea because in June 2024, I mentioned the matter three times when the defendant indicated an early guilty plea. On the final mention on 4/6/2024, the defendant denied the charge. And now a year later, after I had been preparing for the trial on this circuit, the defendant has only just chosen to enter a guilty plea. Instead of the normal 30 per cent reduction, I will give 25 per cent reduction only. That comes to 5.2 years rounded to 5 years.
    • (ii) First time offender with no previous conviction – 2 years.
    • (iii) Compensation in custom – 1 year, as it is a worthy custom.
    • (iv) Cooperation with the police – 1 year.
    • (v) Time spent in custody – almost 2 years because AJH was held in custody from September 2023. It is now end of August 2025 almost 2 years.
13. The final head sentence after mitigation is 11 years (22 years aggravated head sentence minus 11 years reduced mitigation sentence). I will impose a final head sentence of 11 years imprisonment.
14. I will however slash down the 11 years to just 4 years imprisonment only. The reason I do this is because AJH is 70 years old and suffering from serious health problems (hypertension, previous history of stroke and NCD deceases). This 4 year imprisonment term actually means a total of 6 years term of imprisonment, when you consider that AJH has already served about 2 years in pre-trial detention time (refer paragraph 12 (v) above).
15. The summary of agreed facts put AJH’s age at 70 years. Life expectancy for men in Solomon Islands is between 63 to 66 years (Togavi -v- Regina [2009] SBHC 63; HC SI – CRC 50 of 2009 (30 October 2009). The High Court held in Togavi that old age is an important factor that must reduce a sentence for a defendant. The Court must recognise that each year of a sentence in prison represents an unusually substantial proportion of the period of life left to an aged offender.
16. The Court must consider the “reasonable expectation of usual life” after release from the Correctional Service. For an old-aged man like AJH, there is not much of “usual life” left after release. He will grow very old and fragile by the time of release. I alluded to above that the defendant is suffering from serious health conditions (hypertension, past history of stroke and NCD deceases). In view of old age, I have given a big discount of 7 years. To make things worse for Mr. AJH, he has worrying serious health conditions (hypertension and NCD disease), which are detrimental to his already aging life.
17. Two important principles of custodial sentences are rehabilitation and reform. An offender’s time in the correctional facility should re-educate and prepare the offender to re-enter society. Where the offender is old-aged and has serious health conditions, a prolonged custodial sentence may yield undesirable outcomes, thereby undermining rehabilitation. A custodial sentence will do more harm than good. By 2026, Mr AJH will turn 71 years old. After 71 years, Mr. AJH’s life span will deteriorate drastically downhill.
18. Defence submits that I should suspend any sentence term for health reasons. I do not subscribe to that notion because this is a very serious offence as I noted above. In addition, I read the doctor’s current report and there are no major worrying health conditions, except for diet. I noted there are body pains as asserted by the doctor, but that is expected because AJH is an old-aged man. There is stress and worry but that is expected because of his own making, which landed him where he is now. The important findings are his blood pressure and respiratory systems are normal. The diet which is a concern for his NCD diseases can be taken care of with special orders from the court. I have to balance the defendant’s health concerns with the seriousness of the offence, the need to denounce the in-human conduct, and to protect the community, hence a custodial sentence remains the most balanced outcome.
19. Mr. AJH, I will convict you for persistent sexual abuse of a child premised on your guilty plea and the summary of agreed facts. I will sentence you to 4 years imprisonment term. This will act as deterrence for you and others out in the community. This is enough to make you realise your mistake, to learn from it and to come out a better person. The correctional authority is alerted to give special care and attention to AJH during the tenure of his 4 years term of imprisonment. Special care measures such as – healthy balance diet, regular physical exercise and effective medication must be given to AJH.

THE COURT
JUSTICE JOHN A KENIAPISIA
PUISNE JUDGE