father

PPC Manus, Chief Inspector David Yapu, said a 16-year-old Grade 7 student who was allegedly abused between 2017 and 2018 revealed the incident to her teachers and village court officials who referred the matter to police for investigation.

The victim had been interviewed by police and was referred for medical examination.

The father is yet to be arrested but PPC Yapu said reported sexual offences in Manus Province have increased and it is through police awareness that cases are being reported.

Mr Markle told celebrity news website TMZ, at his home in Mexico, that he had decided not to attend his daughter's wedding to Prince Harry.

Kensington Palace issued a statement saying it was "a deeply personal moment for Ms Markle".

It follows Mail on Sunday reports that Ms Markle's father had staged pictures for a paparazzi photographer.

The widely circulated photographs showed him being measured for a wedding suit and looking at newspaper stories about his daughter.

The victim was 13 when he started sexually touched her over her clothes in 2013.

The incidents took place at their family home and in his vehicle when his wife was not around.

When arrested in 2015, he denied the allegations.

A trial was conducted in the National Court and he was found guilty on 19 February.

The man from NCD was sentenced to seven years in jail today.

He has been given till April 27 to pay K3000 or serve 6 years, 10 months and 3 weeks in jail.

Up to 3 per cent of people are the genetic offspring of someone other than the man they think, according to UNSW Professor Rob Brooks and Swinburne University of Technology Professor Michael Gilding, who have both studied misattributed paternity.

Possible scenarios include mum having multiple sexual partners at the time of the child's conception, undisclosed adoption, medical mistakes, the parents using a sperm donor to conceive or "dad" arriving on the scene when the child is too young to remember.

In some cases, dad may not even realise himself.

The Waigani National Court today sentenced the 49-year-old man, who was an IT technician by profession.

He will spend 21 years and 8 months at Bomana after the court deducted time spent in remand (4 months) from the head sentence.

Justice Nicholas Kirriwom, in handing down the court’s sentence, said one parent loses all moral value once he turns on his own child to satisfy his sexual lust.

Magistrate John Kaumi of the Waigani Committal Court sent the case of the man to the National Court on Tuesday after the lower court found there was sufficient evidence against him.

The Port Moresby-based soldier, whose identity is being withheld due to the age of the victim, is expected to appear in the National Court on March 20 for listing.

He was arrested in July 2015 and charged with the persistent child sexual abuse under section 229 of the Criminal Code and Sexual Offenses and Crimes Against Children’s Act.