A 55-year-old man from East New Britain Province has been sentenced to 39 years in prison for the persistent sexual abuse of his two granddaughters, after he pleaded guilty to the offence.
Identities of the man and the victims are being omitted from this article due to the age of the victims and the nature of the crime.
The man pleaded guilty before Justice Salatiel Lenalia at the Kokopo National Court and was sentenced to 39 years for two counts of persistent sexual abuse.
He was sentenced to 19 years and 20 years respectively for both counts on June 21.
The court suspended 9 years from his total sentence of 39 years, leaving him to serve 30 years at the Kerevat jail.
An order was made for him to keep the peace and be on good behaviour bond for two years after his release from prison.
The offence was committed in 2013 when the first victim was 10 years old while the second one was 13 years old. The prisoner was 52 years old then.
Both victim are daughters of the prisoner’s biological daughter.
The younger victim in this persistent abuse case, was born out of an incestuous relationship the prisoner had with his daughter.
They were abused at the family home of the prisoner at the Gelegele/Bai settlement in ENB while their mother was away, living with her husband.
The abuse would take place after school on occasions while their grandmother went out.
The first victim was in Grade 1 then in 2013, when she recalled being abused on many occasions after school. She was then 10 years old.
The second victim was 13 years old when he also abused her.
The abuse continued for some time until the girl’s biological mother found out. The matter was reported to the Kokopo sexual offence squad.
Following his conviction on plea, a pre-sentence report was ordered by the court from the Community Correction Based office to assist the court decide its sentence.
This report was never produced in court but according to the prisoner’s antecedent report, the 55-year-old man was previously convicted for the crime of incest back in 2002 or 2003.
“As though the lesson you had on your previous conviction was not enough, you followed your evil motive to further commit incest,” Justice Lenalia told him in court.
“What you did to your two bubus (granddaughters) will forever haunt their lives. After they get married, they will still remember the evils you conducted against them.
“To the court this means that at their early teens, (ages 10 & 13 years), you sexually penetrated the two sister-complainants not only on separate occasions, but at times you had group sex with the two little victims at the same time in their grandma’s room,” the court added.
Justice Lenalia said to the court, his actions were totally outrageous and out of human logic.
In sentencing him to 39 years, Justice Lenalia said the court must give this clear warning that sexual abuse of any form on children is a serious matter which must be severely punished.