Supreme court rejects sentence reduction for child rapist

The supreme court has rejected an appeal to reduce the sentence of a man found guilty of sexually abusing a six-year-old child.

The accused was sentenced to 27 years in prison for 61 offences concerning sexual abuse of a child, rape, and assault committed between 2014-2018.

“The facts of the present case and the aggravating factors as established by the criminal court, including the age and vulnerability of the victim, the length of time covered by the appellant’s misconduct, and the mental state of the victim, made the present case extremely despicable and, as the criminal court rightly pointed out, one of the most serious of its kind,” the ruling said.

“Taking full advantage of the relationship of trust and intimacy he had with the minor complainant, he committed crimes of rape and sexual abuse against her for an extended period of time on a systematic basis as well as other perverted sexual acts, thus causing her enormous problems,” the court added.

In these circumstances it said: “We do not consider, in any case, that the total prison sentence of 27 years imposed on him is excessive.”

It justified its decision to reject the appeal, stating that the multi-year prison sentence was fully appropriate in the present case and the sentence imposed constituted a just punishment for the heinous behavior shown by the appellant.