Republic v Korere [2001] KIHC 40; Criminal Case 20 of 2000 (14 May 2001)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KIRIBATI
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
HELD AT BETIO
REPUBLIC OF KIRIBATI

Criminal Case No. 20 of 2000

THE REPUBLIC

v.

TAATU KORERE

FOR THE REPUBLIC: Ms Pauline Beiatau
FOR THE ACCUSED: Ms Taoing Taoaba

Date of Hearing: 14 May 2001

JUDGMENT

The accused has been charged with attempted rape (in the alternative, indecent assault) and attempted incest. The victim alleged was his daughter, a young woman somewhere in her teens. He pleaded not guilty.

Before calling evidence Ms Beiatau, prosecuting, told me that of the eight witnesses listed at the foot of the Summary of Facts she proposed to call only two and neither was then present at court. She asked for an adjournment. Ms Beiatau told me that she had seen both witnesses last Friday: they knew they were to be at court on Monday morning and had been summoned, given summonses. I allowed a short adjournment.

By 11 o'clock the second witness, Erenete Taraa turned up. Ms Beiatau called him.

Erenete lived, in October 1999, next door to the accused and his family. The families were neighbours but neither friendly nor unfriendly. Their houses were only a few metres apart.

At dusk or thereabouts on 16 October Erenete heard screaming coming from the accused's house. He went and peeped to see what was going on. He saw the accused attacking the victim, tearing off her shirt, touching the skin of her breasts: he saw him trying to pull off her pants. He heard the accused ask his six or seven year old son to hold her legs but his daughter kicked the boy away. This all lasted about 10 minutes. The accused then went on to his buia and the girl went over to the maneaba. The accused was drunk.

By the time Erenete had finished his evidence it was nearly lunch time. Ms Beaiatau's first witness still had not come to court. We adjourned until 2 o'clock when the witness, despite the issue of a warrant and in the meantime search by the police, was still not here. Ms Beaiatau asked for another adjournment. I refused, pointing out that it is most undesirable to adjourn a criminal trial and rarely done: in a civil case less undesirable and therefore more frequent. A criminal case should run uninterrupted from start to finish.

I told Ms Beaiatau that I thought she'd made out a prima facie case of indecent assault but nothing more. I repeated that to Ms Taoaba, appearing for the accused, when I refused her application for an adjournment to call a doctor and the young son. I refused to allow the adjournment to call the doctor because on the prosecution case (Erenete's evidence) there would not necessarily be any injuries to see. The doctor to come along to say that on examination he/she could see none, would not advance the defence case. I refused to allow an adjournment to call the boy because he was too young, seven at the time and so only eight or nine now.

Ms Taoaba thereupon called her client. His version was rather different from that of Erenete. He admitted he had had four cans of beer at the Gateway Bar during the day but he had been at home for three hours since then. He was not drunk by the time of the incident.

He was on his buia: his daughter stood above him to turn on the light: he pushed her away from him. Thereafter it was rough play between them for three to five minutes. He admitted her crying and screaming but said it was all a game:

I was pretending to hit her. I just wanted to scare her just because I was playing around with her. Then I was surprised when she started screaming.

He did not ask his son to hold her legs. He had no idea to rape her or to hurt her.

That was the case for the defence.

Ms Beaiatau made, in her address, the point very strongly that the girl, on the father's admission, was crying and screaming: why should she if it were all innocent fun? The point was well made but the prosecution must prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. In the light of the accused's denial of any wrong intention in his assertion that it was a game, I cannot but have a reasonable doubt about the accused's guilt.

Accordingly I find the accused not guilty on both counts.

THE HON ROBIN MILLHOUE QC
CHIEF JUSTICE