SUVA, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- Fiji's Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (ODPP) said 246 people were charged with a total of 531 counts of serious sexual offences last year, with more than half of the victims under the age of 18, according to Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC) on Wednesday.
Of the 246 accused persons, 21 were juveniles and two were police officers. The offences range from attempted rape, aiding and abetting rape, assault with intent to rape, abduction with intent to commit rape, indecent assault, defilement and sexual assault.
ODPP also noted that 165 of the 240 victims were under the age of 18. There were 110 offences that occurred in domestic relationships.
An 11-year-old boy became one of Fiji's youngest ever accused after he allegedly raped an eight-year-old girl from his village.
All accused persons charged with sexual offences were male while the victims of the sexual offences comprise of 229 female victims and 11 male victims.
Fiji's Minister for Women and Children Mereseini Vuniwaqa earlier urged families to discuss the issue of rape openly to curb the rising problem of decaying moral values in the island nation.
Vuniwaqa said the increase in sexual violence in Fiji is a fact and the onus is on families to get out of the taboo.
From 2016 to 2018, the average age of rape cases was under 17 in Fiji. Enditem