In the High Court of Kiribati
Criminal Jurisdiction

Held at Betio
Republic of Kiribati

High Court Criminal Case 34 of 2010

The Republic

v

Temi Beiataake

For the Republic: Ms Pauline Beiatau
For the Accused: Mr Taburuea Rubetaake

Date of Hearing: 18 October 2010

SENTENCE

Temi Beiataake: you have pleaded guilty to the indecent assault of a little girl four years old. You are her uncle. You lured her and her friend, a little boy about the same age, into your relatives' house at Bairiki. No one else was at home. You then poured oil on the little girl's stomach and into her vagina. You licked her vagina. You rubbed your penis against her. While doing this you climaxed. The boy's father came looking for him and saw what had happened.

You are 57 years old, a married man with five children, your home island is Marakei. You came to Tarawa looking for work. You found a job as a fisherman but the business failed and you lost the job. You had brought your family to Tarawa but they returned to Marakei when you were no longer employed. In his submissions for you Mr Rubetaake seemed to blame the anxiety over your loss of job for what you did. Perhaps but in 1994 Muhammad CJ sentenced you to seven years for an offence against a little child of two. Although His Honour does not say what the offence was he does say the maximum penalty was life imprisonment. The crime was either rape or some serious crime against a child. It seems the circumstances of the 1994 offence and the present one are similar. I must take that into account when fixing sentence. 

In your favour is that you have pleaded guilty. That means a less sentence than otherwise. What you did, though, was a very terrible thing and requires a severe sentence. You will be imprisoned for three and a half years to run from 1 October when you went into custody.

Dated the 19th day of October 2010

THE HON ROBIN MILLHOUSE QC
Chief Justice