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Kadavu v The State [1990] FJHC 16; Haa0112j.89s (14 February 1990)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF FIJI
At Suva
Appellate Jurisdiction

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 112 OF 1989

Between:

MOAPE KADAVU
PETAIA KORO
Appellants

v.

STATE
Respondent

Appellants In Person
Ms. A. Prasad for the Respondent

JUDGMENT

The appellants were convicted by the Nausori Magistrate Court on their guilty pleas to an offence of Rape and sentenced as follows:

Moape Kadavu to 5 years imprisonment and 2 strokes of corporal punishment;

Petaia Koro to 5 years imprisonment and 1 stroke of corporal punishment.

The appellants now appeal against the sentences saying they are harsh and excessive.

The appellants are both young men being 19 years of age but unlike their co-offenders in Cr. App. No. 40 of 1989 the present appellants are not first offenders.

To their credit however both appellants pleaded guilty to the offence which was a cowardly attack on a defenceless girl and in which there were no less than 6 assailants.

In Cr. App. No. 40 of 1989 the sentences of 5 years imprisonment was left undisturbed. Having heard these appellants I can find no good reason to make any distinction between them.

Their appeal is accordingly dismissed. The sentences of corporal punishment however are effectively "time-barred" by the provisions of Section 34(3)(f) of the Penal Code Cap. 17 and are formally quashed.

(D.V. Fatiaki)
JUDGE

At Suva,
14th February, 1990.

HAA0112J.89S