Judge unhappy with lack of remorse from prisoner

By ELIZABETH VUVU
A NATIONAL court judge was not impressed with a man’s lack of remorse and failure to compensate a pregnant woman he had sexually assaulted while sentencing him to three years imprisonment.
Justice David Cannings revealed this during National Court sittings in Bialla recently when sentencing Mark Saupas, 29, of Bialla and Buka parentage, to prison.
The court heard that on Jan 20, 2004, Saupas was at Tiauru village, near Bialla. The woman, who was seven months pregnant, was carrying water containers down to the creek to fetch water. Saupas followed and was talking to her.
She was walking back to her house when he followed her again, this time he held her by the neck and forced her to the ground and tried to remove her clothes.
The woman struggled but Saupas succeeded in removing her undergarments and touched her private parts, before he was disturbed by passers-by and ran away.
Justice Cannings said this was a very serious case of sexual assault, which could have easily been charged as aggravated sexual assault (with a maximum of 10 years) or attempted rape (with a maximum of 14 years).
He said Saupas has had more than three years to apologise and commence compensation and reconciliation but failed to deal with the issue appropriately.
“This was a bad case of sexual assault. Though the pre-sentence report recommends the prisoner for probation, I am not impressed with the offender’s lack of genuine remorse and his failure to compensate or reconcile with the victim.”

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