20 years for sexual assault

By ZACHERY PER
A MAN has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for sexually assaulting his 13-year-old niece.
The national court in Kundiawa found the bus driver guilty on five counts of sexual assault. Four of the counts related to the sexual penetration of an under-aged child.
The man was the brother of the girl’s mother.
His name has been withheld to protect the girl’s identity.
The court was told that the girl was 13 in 2009 when she was assaulted. She was a Grade 4 student at a primary school near Kundiawa town, Chimbu.
Her parents had allowed him to take care of her because they were closely related and they trusted him. In early July 2009, the man had an argument with his wife who then left for her village. The man was left alone with his niece.
The court was told that he started sexually assaulting the niece when she was asleep.
On one occasion, he assaulted her in his PMV bus during a dark rainy night.
Presiding acting judge, Justice Martin Ipang, said he was satisfied that the man had assaulted his niece on the five occasions.