Last month saw a significant rise in crimes against women and children, with incidents against women climbing by 39 percent and those against children increasing by 9 percent.
Out of 232 cases reported involving crimes against women, a staggering 88 percent were related to assaults, while 12 percent involved sexual offenses. Additionally, 31 percent of the cases were domestic incidents where the offenders were spouses or partners. One of the major contributors to the rise in assaults against women was the offense categorized as assault causing actual bodily harm, which recorded 181 cases—a rise of 65 cases compared to the same timeframe last year.
In terms of crimes against children, there were 153 cases reported, comprising 96 girls and 57 boys. Among these, 53 percent were identified as sexual offenses, 35 percent were related to assaults, and 12 percent fell under other categories. The Fiji Police Force indicated that the increase in crimes against children was primarily driven by a jump in cases of assault causing actual bodily harm, which rose from 25 to 45 cases.