A 27 year old man with 11 previous convictions has today been tagged a menace to society and thrown back behind bars for 9 years after he pleaded guilty to raping a 16 year old girl.

Suva Magistrate Ajmal Gulab Khan while passing sentence highlighted that Maciu Kotoisavusavu, on August 7th this year, approached the victim and two other girls at the FIT bus stand and said he would drop them off in a taxi.

The three girls then got into a taxi with him and went to Hercules Street under the pretext of picking something up where the two other girls pushed the victim out of the taxi into a ditch.

Kotoisavusavu then dragged the victim under a mango tree where he threatened to kill her as he punched her several times and forced her to undress. He then raped the victim twice between 3pm and 3am the next morning. The 16 year old girl managed to escape when Kotoisavusavu fell asleep. He was apprehended moments later by Flagstaff Police sleeping naked at the scene of the crime.

Magistrate Khan said Kotoisavusavu, who was released from prison in December 2006 after serving time on a manslaughter charge has become a nuisance to a civilized society and it is the courts duty to protect the public from people like him.

He stressed that the victim endured severe trauma, being detained, threatened and sexually abused and raped for 12 hours. Magistrate Khan also called on the police to lay appropriate charges against the two girls who assisted him in tricking the victim.