Man gets 15 years in prison for raping a minor – The National

By BEVERLY PETER
Last week, the National Court in Minj sentenced a 20-year-old man to 15 years in prison for raping an 11-year-old girl in Jiwaka three years ago.
Sentencing Junior Wii from Kimil in Banz, Jiwaka, Judge Nicolas Miviri said women and children should be able to move freely in their communities and not be stalked and raped by men in this way.
Miviri said the girl was with other children on a tea plantation collecting firewood when Wii chased her with a machete.
“Men must respect all women.
“Here she was simply looking for firewood with other children, and this is a normal, everyday job that has to be done to sustain life in village communities in many parts of our country,” he said.
He said women and girls who go out in this way need to be protected from men and boys like Wii.
“Wii was armed with a weapon, a machete, with which he committed the crime,” said Miviri.
He said a trial was necessary because he had pleaded not guilty.
Wii pleaded not guilty because he said anyone entering the plantation had to pay K200 and because the girl did not have the money to pay, she complied and he raped her. Miviri said this did not justify what he did.
“I am of the opinion that the prisoner’s actions must be punished because he did not plead guilty despite having a vague explanation.
“The girl was 11 years old and Wii was 17 at the time of the crime, an age difference of six years,” he said.
Miviri said the victim was brutally introduced to sexual activity through Wii at a very young age and therefore there were no grounds for parole for the 15-year prison sentence.
Miviri was subsequently ordered to deduct the time spent in pre-trial detention and serve the remainder of his sentence.