Seven years for rape of child

Press, 25 February 1987, Page 6

Seven years for rape of child

PA Dunedin A man convicted of raping a girl, aged eight, has been sentenced to seven years jail. The man, aged 28, was found guilty by a jury in the High Court at Dunedin recently at the end of a five-day hearing. He appeared for sentence before Mr Justice Tipping. The trial was told that

the man, who was living in the same house as the child at the time, went into her bedroom and committed the offence. His Honour said that while he accepted that alcohol was the explanation for the offence, it was no excuse. The man had breached a relationship of trust and had Inflicted severe physical injuries on the child in the sanc-

tity of her bedroom. Because of the nature of the crime, he accepted that the man would have to spend his prison term in solitary confinement But he said the lowest possible term he felt he could impose was one of seven years jail. His Honour made a final order supressing the man’s name to protect the identity of the victim.