High number of serious sex offences continue where the victims and the accused are related to one another

12 incidents of serious sex offences reported for last month were cases where the victims and the accused were related to one another.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions says 15 of the 24 victims were under the age of 18 years.

There were two male and 22 female victims.

A 53-year-old man has been charged with three counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and one count of sexual assault of a 25-year-old man and a 21-year-old man in Valelevu.

A 17-year-old boy was charged with the rape and indecent assault of a 15-year-old girl.

A 76-year-old man was charged with one count of rape of his 8-year-old granddaughter while in another incident, a 56-year-old man was charged with three counts of rape of his 16-year-old granddaughter.

There was one incident where a 40-year-old man was charged with nine representative counts of rape of his 8-year-old daughter.

A 72-year-old man was charged with two counts of rape of his 17-year-old stepdaughter, however, this matter was discontinued after the death of the accused person.

A 35-year-old man was charged with one count of rape and five counts of sexual assault of his 14-year-old stepdaughter while in another incident, a 32-year-old man was charged with two representative counts of rape of his 12-year-old stepdaughter.

A 56-year-old man was charged with two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault of his 13-year-old niece while in another incident a 21-year-old man was charged with the rape of his 25- year-old niece.

There was one incident where a 40-year-old man was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault of his 17-year-old niece.

A 37-year-old man was charged with three counts of rape and two counts of sexual assault of his 16-year-old niece.

A 31-year-old man was charged with the rape of his 29-year-old wife, however, this matter was discontinued after the complainant admitted to making a false complaint.

An 18-year-old man was charged with the rape of his 11-year-old cousin.

There was one incident where a 68-year-old man was charged with two counts of rape and one count of attempted rape of a 25-year-old woman, however, this matter was discontinued after the complainant could not be contacted or located.

Two 18-year-old men and a 20-year-old man were charged with five counts of rape, one count of indecent assault and one count sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl.

A 22-year-old man has been charged with two counts of abduction with intent to commit rape of a 16-year-old girl. The accused and victim were in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship at the time of the offence.

In another incident, a 23-year-old man was charged with the rape of his 20-year-old girlfriend.

A 19-year-old man was charged with the rape and attempted rape of a 16-year-old girl. The accused and the victim were in a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship at the time of the offence, however, this matter was discontinued after the complainant could not be contacted or located.

A 32-year-old man was charged with the rape of a 20-year-old woman while in another incident, a 29-year-old man was charged with the rape of a 16-year-old girl, however, both matters were discontinued after the victims admitted to making false complaints.

Eight cases were discontinued due to insufficient and inconsistent evidence, victims could not be contacted or located and false complaints.

There were 26 people charged with a total of 70 counts of sexual offences in August.

The sexual offences include 46 counts of rape, 3 counts of attempted rape, 2 counts of abduction with intent to commit rape, 5 counts of indecent assault and 14 counts of sexual assault.

Of the 26 accused persons, one was a juvenile.