A FATHER who raped his cancer patient daughter was jailed for 17 years yesterday. He will be eligible for parole after serving 16 years. Justice Salesi Temo said the case was the most disgusting he had ever presided over during his 19 years on the bench.
The man was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment for each of the five counts of rape and three years each for two counts of indecent assault.
Justice Temo said the sentences would run concurrent to each other because of the principle of totality of sentence.
"For the 19 years I've spent on the bench in Fiji, your case is the worst parental abuse case I've ever come across," he told the man.
"A child growing up in a family expects comfort and support from her parents. This is even more so when it concerned the special sacred relationship between a father and his daughter."
Justice Temo said a father was expected to counsel and support his daughter to become confident and aspiring member of society. "Instead of being a pillar of support for your eldest daughter, you completely ruined her life by sexually abusing her from the young age of eight years old.
"You repeatedly assaulted her indecently between 2004 and 2008 — a period of four years. At the time, she was aged eight to 12 years old.
"She was still a child at the time. In fact, you robbed her of her childhood. You did indecencies on her that were beyond description.
"Before I leave this case, this sentence is a warning to fathers who want to abuse their daughters, in the way the accused did in this case."