Royal Navy sailor Sebastine Kava Liliu raped a woman after ‘scouring a nightclub for prey’

The first Royal Navy sailor from the Solomon Islands searched for drunk women in a nightclub before raping his victim in the bushes, a court heard.

Sebastine Kava Liliu raped his 19-year-old victim just a few meters from the nightclub from which he had lured her.

The court in Portsmouth heard that the “predatory” sailor had spent two and a half hours scouting the club on his own to try to identify “lonely, drunken women”.

He treated his “particularly vulnerable” victim to a double shot of tequila, despite her already heavy alcohol consumption, and persuaded her to leave the Portsmouth club with him in the early hours of February 11.

“Opportunistic”

Kava Liliu then lured the woman to a secluded spot on a street just a few meters away and raped her on the ground in the bushes.

After the attack, Kava Liliu took a taxi back to his ship in the Marine City.

The sailor was photographed meeting Princess Anne during a graduation parade at HMS Raleigh, the naval basic training facility in Torpoint, Cornwall, in April last year.

He was chosen as the first Solomon Islands Navy official to meet the Princess, and his brilliant service record was noted.

On Thursday, however, a judge called Kava Liliu an “opportunist” and sentenced him to six years in prison.

Judge Michael Bowes KC ruled that Kava Liliu had “targeted” the woman and caused her “serious psychological harm”.

“Particularly vulnerable victim”

Addressing Kava Liliu, Judge Bowes KC said: “On February 11, (the victim) went to the Astoria with her friends, (she) had drunk heavily and was intoxicated.

“I’ll say it very clearly: she cannot be blamed in any way for this.

“At some point you approached her and spoke to her because you knew she was drunk and vulnerable. Shortly after, you took her outside and raped her in a nearby bush.

“What you did that night had a profound impact on (the victim).

“They have not only caused her physical harm, but also severe psychological damage that will stay with her for many years and probably her entire life.”

The judge added: “I have concluded that you have caused her serious psychological harm and that she was particularly vulnerable because of her personal circumstances.

“I have concluded that your offence, while extremely serious, was opportunistic rather than the result of careful planning.”

The judge said he had taken into account Kava Liliu’s service record in the Royal Navy, which “speaks well for him”.

In a statement read at an earlier hearing, Kava Liliu’s victim said she had “lost her dignity” after the attack.

Kava Liliu, who admitted rape, will be released after four years and will have to serve the last two years of his sentence on probation.

It is believed that he is planning a return to the Solomon Islands.