The youngest victims of serious sex crimes in Fiji last year were a two-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl, as per statistics published by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
It also highlighted that the youngest accused person was a 13-year-old boy.
According to the ODPP, there were 282 victims, of whom 175 were under the age of 18 years.
Of the 282 victims, 266 were females and 16 were male.
There were 154 offences that occurred in domestic relationships or where the accused was known to the victims.
ODPP said 299 people were charged with a total of 743 counts of serious sexual offences from January to December 2023.
Of the 299 accused persons, one was a female, 31 were juveniles and four were police officers.
There were 502 offences of rape, 11 cases of attempted rape, 5 cases of abduction with intent to commit rape, three cases of assault with intent to commit rape, four cases of aiding and abetting rape, one case of pornographic activity involving a juvenile, 43 cases of indecent assault, two cases of indecent annoying, 20 cases of defilement and 152 cases of sexual assault.
ODPP said 47 cases were withdrawn after discontinuances filed in 2023.
322 people were charged with 768 counts of serious sexual offences in 2022.
