Child molester jailed 10yrs

A 23-YEAR-OLD man was jailed 10 years by the National Court in Waigani for sexually abusing a nine-year-old girl repeatedly between March 1 and Oct 18, 2019.
In sentencing Emmanuel Robin from Okapa’s Kasoro village in Eastern Highlands, acting judge Laura Wawun-Kuvi said it was now prevalent in Papua New Guinea for very young girls to be sexually abused.
“The court must view such as very serious. The law of the land must be maintained and enforced in its entirety to reflect the serious nature of sexual abuse.
“While the state (prosecutor) failed to obtain an impact statement from the victim to provide some insight into her psychological and emotional state, a child aged 15 and below are at a very tender age, incapable of having sexual relations with anyone,” she added.
Justice Wawun-Kuvi said the probation officer had only obtained a brief statement that the child wanted her assailant to be incarcerated.
“In this case where there is no rape, the maximum penalty is 15 years. The aggravating factors that the court noted includes Robin being the girl’s neighbour, the abuses happened over a period of time, Robin being an adult and the girl was a minor.
“One other aggravating feature I have not seen mentioned in either counsels’ submissions and the many case laws as they relate to child abuse or general sexual offences, is the extremely intrusive medical procedure that is required to be performed to confirm rape.
“Also, the fact that the girl has to repeat her story to multiple people over and over again.
“The girl did not have to come to court to recount what happened to her but the secondary trauma has already been inflicted when she had to repeat her story to relatives, police, medical professionals and prosecutors.
“It also cannot be ignored that in PNG, we are a very close knitted society, and there is social stigma attached to the child,” Justice Wawun-Kuvi said.
In his first attack in Port Moresby, the girls’ father was away and Robin lured her into his room and sexually abused her. On the second occasion, Robin grabbed the girl while she was playing, took her into his house and abused her.
On the third occasion, he jumped over the fence into the girl’s family yard and carried her into his house where he again repeated the same offence.
Robin pleaded guilty to persistent sexual abuse of the girl.
Justice Wawun-Kuvi refused to suspend any part of the sentence and only deducted time spent in custody. Robin will serve his term in Bomana Prison.