Incest case described as worst

By TREVOR WAHUNE
A MAGISTRATE has described as the “worst kind of abuse” the case of a father and step-mother charged with sexually abusing the man’s daughter.
Committal Court Magistrate Cosmas Bidar ruled that there was enough evidence to send a West New Britain man and his wife from Central to trial. The court heard that the man had been committing the offence since his daughter was 13.
Magistrate Bidar said that according to a record of interview with the girl, she knew her father when she was eight before he and her mother separated.
Five years later, he came into her life again.
She used to go and stay with him and her half-sisters who were her stepmother’s children.
The court heard that the father began abusing her on Sept 21, 2015, when she was at grade 7.
The girl remembered the date because it was the week after Independence Day in 2015.
She said she was told that she would be required to provide sex in return for her school fees, bus fares and lunch money.
In 2016, the step-mother allegedly joined in the sexual abuse.
“It is alleged that both defendants continuously sexually abused her by making her drunk and having group sex,” Magistrate Bidar said.
He said the child’s consent could not be used as a defence.
“What matters is that she was sexually abused when under the age of 16 by her biological father who was in a relationship of trust with the victim.
“He is now charged with incest,” Bidar said.
The girl reported the matter to her stepfather who complained to police on May 2 last year.