A man charged with two counts of rape of a girl below 16-years-old in Nausori last year has been acquitted by the Suva High Court.
High Court Judge Justice Priyantha Fernando found the man not guilty of two counts of rape and defilement.
While delivering his judgement, Justice Fernando said that the complainant was not a reliable witness and her evidence should not be relied upon.
Justice Fernando said the complainant contradicted in her own evidence when she tried to show that she did not consent and that she was forcefully dragged to the house by the man.
Justice Fernando found the man truthful when he said that the complainant came on her own choice and that they had a relationship for three weeks.
The man while giving evidence said that he believed that the complainant was above 16 years of age.
The reasons he gave for the belief were that he had never seen the complainant going to school in uniform, therefore he believed that the complainant had completed her secondary school.
The man in his evidence said that when he met the complainant the first day, he asked her whether she was in school and she told him that she was studying at FNU.
