SENTENCE
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(Frank Kabui J):
Indecent assault is a serious offence. It carries the maximum penalty of
5 years imprisonment. It is a form of
assault against a woman or girl
without her consent being indecent in nature. Being indecent means
offending
against accepted standards of decency or morality in society.
Playing with a woman�s private parts without her consent
is an indecent
assault of her body and her modesty. It is against the accepted
standards of decency in Solomon
Islands. It is an immoral act punishable
by law.
Rape is also an offence
against females of all races. It is a more serious offence than indecent
assault. It carries
a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Rape is of
all sorts. One sort involves sexual intercourse without the consent
of
the female concerned by using force, threat or intimidation of any kind
or by fear of bodily harm. The other
sort involves sexual intercourse
with a married woman by personation of her husband, that is pretending
to be
her husband.
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The last sort involves
sexual intercourse by means of making frepresentations as to the
the
nature of the act.
You were convicted of the last sort. You used no
force to get consent. You were able to commit indecent assault and rape
because you told the Complainants you would treat them for their belly
aches. They trusted you. In the case of
Catherine Tura, her husband
trusted you also. You kept your word but you went beyond normal
treatment and committed
two offences against them and the state. That is
a breach of trust that they had in you. You knew in your heart and mind
that you were doing wrong. You knew you were lying to them when you went
beyond the limits of normal treatment.
You knew what you were saying to
Catherine Tura that sexual intercourse with you would cure her belly
ache was
a lie. That was evil of you. You took advantage of the two
women and damage their reputation in the community, apart from
damaging
your own as a custom doctor. You are not to be trusted any more.
I have taken into account
the fact that the Complainantsadults. They should have reve resisted
you. They are to
be somewhat blamed also for what happened to them.
However trust and belief are probably their fault. You yourself imparted
into them the feeling of trust and belief in you as a custom doctor. You
were the cause of it all. You were a
confidence trickster.
I have also tanto
account all that is said in your favour by your lawyer. It is true that
you did not advertise
yourself as a custom doctor. This is normal in
villages throughout the Solomon Islands. Always, custom doctors are
known by word of mouth passed from one person to another. So the word
gets around and the custom doctors get visitors
from time to time. This
is, I believe, also true in your case. You were however free to turn
down the two Complainants
who called on you for help. You did not. As a
matter of fact, you said it was good that they came to you for help. You
accepted them. They believed you. Also, you should not have treated them
in a small room where you were by yourself
with them alone. Your wife
should have been in that small room with you or else your wife should be
the one doing
the pressing (massaging) since the Complainants are
females. You were foolish to be alone with them. You had by your own
choice placed yourself in a situation where you gave in to temptation.
It was almost inevitable in the way you
set yourself up in your small
room. It may however be wrong for women to seek custom medicine
treatment in the
Solomon Islands outside of medical services provided by
the Government, churches and private doctors. The choice however
would
seem to remain by practice in Solomon Islands in the users of the
various medical services. It is not uncommon
in Solomon Islands for
persons to consult custom doctors prior to seeing a qualified nurse or
doctor or after
having received medical treatment they have still not
been cured of their illnesses. Such behaviour is simply human nature.
One cannot really blame a female patient for having made a wrong choice
who consults a qualified male doctor
who through trickery of some sort
commits rape upon that female patient. That male doctor cannot really
say that
his patient comes to him voluntarily or has made the wrong
choice. That is not the point. The point is that rape must not
be
committed upon persons who seek treatment of whatever nature and from
whomsoever who agrees to treat them
for their troubles.
I have further taken i account the fact that you have a family and that you have no previous
co convictions. That
must however be weighed against the gravity of the
offences you committed. The offences you committed are serious offences.
They would call for
custodial sentence in your case. Women and the community aity at large would
abhor your conduct.
All women must be protected against persons like
you.
The sentence of this court
that you be imprisoned for 12 months for count 1 and 6 yea6 years for
count 3. These
are to run concurrently.
Dated this 10th
day of February 1999
F.O. Kabui
Judge
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