A church elder convicted of raping his 16-year-old niece on several occasions has had his appeal against conviction and sentence rejected by the Fiji Court of Appeal. The defendant faced six charges of rape that occurred between September 23 and October 4, 2019. Court documents indicate that he is required to serve 13 years of his 15-year prison sentence before being eligible for parole. The accused had presented three arguments opposing the conviction and two against the sentence. This decision was announced by Justice Chandana Prematilaka on August 8.