Man charged with molesting and raping 9-year-old freed

By CLARRISA MOI
A 30-YEAR-old man charged with molesting and raping a nine-year-old girl was set free by the Waigani Committal Court yesterday because he had not made a court appearance since 2019 and there was no follow up by the victim.
Magistrate Billy Pidu struck out the case after receiving status update from Police Prosecutor Sgt Joseph Sangam that he had returned to his village.
The accused, Kawati Rupa, of Moupa village in Abau, Central, was charged with two counts of raping and molesting a minor.
The police brief stated that on Sept 12, 2019, the girl’s father and his driver, Rupa, had picked her up from school.
It was alleged that Rupa molested the victim in the vehicle while the victim’s father went out to use an automated teller machine in Gordon, Port Moresby.
The victim alleged that the accused put his hand into her shirt and squeezed her breast.
He then allegedly pushed his hand into her uniform trousers and pushed two fingers into her vagina.
The victim alleged that after removing his fingers from her vagina, he told the victim to get into the front and touch his penis but she resisted.
The defendant then saw the victim’s father coming so he pretended. It was also stated that the victim told her father on Oct 26, 2019, after her parents told her to report to them of any sexual abuses done by others.
She told her father what his driver did to her in the car.
The matter was then reported to police and the defendant was taken into custody.