A TOTAL of 141 people were charged with a total of 378 separate counts of serious sexual offences as of December 31 last year.
According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), there were 21 people charged who were under the age of 18 years and the youngest accused person charged with rape was an 11-year-old boy.
The statistics revealed that there were 277 rape offences, six attempted rape, one assault with intent to rape, seven abduction with intent to rape, seven indecent assault, 14 defilement and 66 sexual assault offences from January 1 to December 31, 2018.
The statement from the ODPP said there were 204 victims of the 378 separate sexual offences of which there were 129 victims under the age of 18 years.
“All accused persons charged with sexual offences were males, however victims of the sexual offences were both males and females comprising 189 female victims and 15 male victims,” the statement said.
The statistics also revealed that there were 91 offences that occurred in domestic relationships or where the accused was known to the victims.
The youngest victim of serious sexual offences as of last year, was a two-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by her 27-year-old father.
