A 35-year-old farmer who raped a two-year-old girl has been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment by High Court Judge Justice, Daniel Goundar.
The incident occurred in a settlement in Namosi in 2019.
The court was told that the man carried the girl to the back of her house and raped her.
While sentencing him, Justice Goundar says the girl was extremely vulnerable due to her tender age and she was abused by an adult male with a vast age gap.
He says the crime is so despicable that the offender cannot escape a long prison sentence despite his mental disability.
However, Justice Goundar says the offender has entered an early guilty plea, he is contrite and has saved the child victim the trauma of giving evidence.
The man was in remand for 9 months and 24 days.
A non-parole period of 10 years has been set.
