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R v Bosu [2025] SBHC 35; HCSI-CRC 469 of 2024 (22 March 2025)

HIGH COURT OF SOLOMON ISLANDS

IN THE HIGH COURT OF SOLOMON ISLANDS
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

Criminal Case No. 469 of 2024

REX

V

JOHN BOSU

Date of Hearing: 18 March 2025
Date of Sentence: 22 March 2025

Ms Rehomora and Ms Cleven for the Crown
Mr Waroka for the Defendant

VERDICT AND SENTENCE

1. Mr. John Bosu, stands trial for one count of attempted rape contrary to Section 136F (3) (a) of the 2016 Act. The particulars of offence allege that John Bosu of Graciosa Bay, Santa Cruz, Temotu Province, at Menau village, on 10^th September 2024, did attempt to have sexual intercourse with Catherine Gremmy Plosa by attempting to penetrate her vagina with his penis without her consent and knowing about or being reckless as to the lack of consent.
2. I arraigned Mr. Bosu on 15/3/2025 on an amended information filed the same day. Mr. Bosu pleaded guilty. I will accordingly convict Mr. Bosu of attempted rape premised on his guilty plea and summary of agreed facts. The remaining issue is to determine the appropriate sentence.
3. This is the oldest accused person I have ever come across in my less than 5 years on the criminal bench. Mr. Bosu is 80 years old and frail. The other adjective words I can use to describe him, having observed him from the witness box are – weak, feeble, fragile, infirm and decrepit. I observed that his body was shaking and that he was having difficulty hearing me. I had to shout at the top of my voice when taking his plea. His lips too were shaking. These are signs of a person who is very old and fragile. I doubt if his penis will still have the strength needed for sexual penetration, let alone erection.
4. It is fair to say that Mr. Bosu is not strong enough to endure strain, pressure or strenuous effort. He is very weak and has inferior strength or power to do anything, including laborious or manual work. I also read the victim’s mother’s statement to police wherein she said, that they or that she was looking after John Bosu, being a very old man, and yet in return he wanted to do something bad to her daughter.
5. John walks slowly, without aid in the court room. I doubt if he can climb hills and mountains or walk long distances outside. The same outward descriptions of fragility I made above will equally apply to his inner will, strength and good health. Whenever I see people like John Bosu advanced in old age, I would with respect normally say, “Your good days are over”. This is our destination if we are lucky to reach 70 years. Life expectancy for men in Solomon Islands is from 63 to 66 years old.
6. I will set the start point sentence at 5 years because this is a sexual offence under Section 136F of the 2016 Act and is a non-contested matter involving a child under the age of consent. However unlike in Rex v Sinatau, Court of Appeal 2023 the maximum penalty available for attempted rape is 20 years and not life imprisonment. This matter involves attempted rape. Sinatau was about penial sexual intercourse with a female child victim of 10 years old, meaning it is a more serious offence.
7. I identify the following serious aggravating factors: -
   • (i) Age disparity – You are fit to be called the victim’s grandfather. The victim’s mother said she was looking after you with her own children. The victim was only 5 years old and you are in your 80s. As an elderly community person, you should be responsible and accountable to look after the young female child victim from this kind of offending.
   • (ii) Psychological harm and trauma – Court must always take judicial notice of the long-term effect on the child.
   • (iii) Position of trust breached – You are an elderly person in the village and the victim’s mother was also taking care of you, being an elderly person. The victim would therefore look up to you as a family member and would also have trust, and would confide in you being an elderly person in her village. You violated that trust when you turned around and attempted to sexually abuse the victim.
   • (iv) Young tender age of victim – The victim was only a child with a composition not fit for any male person to be sexually aroused with. You were trying to intrude into that and defile her sexual virginity, sanctity, intactness, innocence and purity.
   • (v) Weak and vulnerable child – Being 5 years old, the victim was innocent, weak and vulnerable. That was why she came to you at a hideaway location when you called her over and yet you attempted to rape her and was only interrupted when people came around and saw you. She became more vulnerable when she was alone.
   • (vi) Pre-planning – Because you were living with the victim’s family or in the victim’s community, you must have taken time to think about what you did to the child victim. You cannot claim it was a coincidence.
8. For all of the above 6 serious aggravating factors combined, I will uplift the start point sentence by 6 more years (1 year for each aggravating factor). Increases due to serious aggravation should be made in years and not merely in weeks and months (Bade, Court of Appeal 2023). That will bring me to 11 years head sentence before mitigation.
9. Then the following mitigating factors will reduce the head sentence downwards: -
   • (i) Early guilty plea – 30% reduction comes to 3.3 years rounded to 3 years.
   • (ii) Compensation in custom – A worthy custom. I noted compensation was paid and parties have also reconciled with prayers. I deduct 1 year.
   • (iii) Old age - I will discuss this separately below because it will drastically affect the sentence that I would normally impose on young offenders.
   • (iv) Time spent in custody – You spent 7 months in custody since September 2024.
   • (v) First time offender with no previous convictions – I will deduct 1 year.
10. The summary of agreed facts put the defendant’s age at 80 years. Life expectancy for men in Solomon Islands is between 63 to 66 (Togovi v Regina, [2009] SBHC 63, HCSI – CRC 50 of 2009 (30^th October 2009). High Court held in Togovi 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.
11. The Court must consider the “reasonable expectation of usual life” after release from prison. For an old aged man like Mr. Bosu 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 already weak and fragile, having observed him in the witness box. In view of old age, I will give a big reduction of 4 years. To make things worse for Mr. Bosu, he has serious worrying health conditions, which are detrimental to his already aging life. He is diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure). Beyond 80 years in prolonged confinement will become stressful and worrying for Mr. Bosu’s aging issues which are further complicated, in view of his high blood pressure diagnosis (see doctor Gravis report dated 18/03/2025).
12. Two important principles of custodial sentence are rehabilitation and repentance/reformation. 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 prolonged custodial sentence will do more harm than good to Mr. Bosu. By next year 2026, he will turn 81 years. After 81 years, Mr. Bosu’s life span will deteriorate drastically downhill.
13. Mr. Bosu, I convict you for attempted rape premised on your guilty plea and summary of agreed facts. I will sentence you to 2 years (24 months) imprisonment after deducting 9 years in mitigation from the 11 years total aggravated head sentence. The biggest reduction of 4 years was for your old age. I noted that you have been held in pre-trial detention for almost 7 months. I will deduct that 7 months from the 24 months. You are left with 17 months only. However, you will only serve 5 months and will be released, to complete 1 year in the correctional facility, in view of your worrying health diagnosis. This is enough to make you realise your mistake, to learn from it and to come out a better person.

THE COURT
JUSTICE JOHN A KENIAPISIA
PUISNE JUDGE