Australian Jailed For Fiji Child Rapes
Source: Fiji Broadcasting Corporation
MUTCH GETS SEVEN YEARS
SUVA: Australian national Mark Lawrence Mutch was today given a seven
year jail sentence after being found guilty on Friday of paedophilia,
Radio Fiji reports.
This is the first ever conviction for paedophilia in the Fiji Islands.
And a Suva High Court judge, Justice Davendra Pathik has turned down a
verbal application for bail, pending appeal by Mutch's lawyer, Mehboob
Raza.
Raza was told to apply in writing and state clearly his grounds for
bail, pending appeal.
Mutch was found guilty on two counts of rape and four counts of indecent
assault.
He was served with two 7-year sentences for rape and four years each for
indecent assault, however the sentences will be served concurrently
which means Mutch will only serve a total of seven years.
Justice Pathik told a packed court that in his 42 years in the legal
field, it was the first case of paedophilia that he has come across and
a first for Fiji.
He says the case sent shock waves throughout the country as it was not
heard of before.
Pathik says this kind of activity should be nipped in the bud before it
spreads like a cancer.
Between 1990 and 1997, Mutch lured school children mostly primary school
girls to his home and sexually assaulted them and took photos of them.
Mutch was arrested when Victorian Police recovered the photos on the
Internet in Australia.
Article provided by the Journalism Programmme, University of the South Pacific. Pasifik Nius.