High Court Judge Justice Salesi Temo says when families, schools and churches fail in teaching character, the only medicine the judges can give is prison sentences.
Justice Temo made this comment in the rape trial of the 13-year-old boy in Tailevu.
He says the judges are sick and tired of giving harsh sentences for rapes but these cases just keep coming.
He says for a small island nation like Fiji, there are so many cases of rape.
Justice Temo says “Fiji the Way the World Should Be” is now “Fiji the Way the World Shouldn’t Be”.
He found three uncles from Tailevu guilty of raping their 13-year-old nephew while the fourth uncle has been found not guilty of rape.
Justice Temo concurred with the three assessors’ opinion, convicted the three men and acquitted the fourth uncle.
The incidents occurred in Tailevu between November 2015 to March last year.
The first accused is 40‑years‑old, the second accused is 36, the third accused is 45 while the fourth accused who is now acquitted is 42.
During the summing up, Justice Temo told the three assessors that the boy was 13 at the time of the incident, therefore under the law, a 13-year-old cannot legally give consent for sex.
He said the boy was able to recognise each of the accused as they were under his observation for over 10 minutes during the incidents and all of the incidents happened in daylight.
Defence lawyer Nemani Tuifagalele asked for a 10 year sentence for the accused persons. He also said that they are remorseful.
The three men have been remanded in custody and will be sentenced at 11.30 this morning.
