Simione Tuvuki 
The Fiji Police Force has expressed grave concern over the worrying trend of sexual offences committed in safe spaces.
This as 95 percent of perpetrators in all sexual offences cases are known to the victims.
Chief Planning, Research, and Doctrines, Aporosa Lutunauga, says it indicates that the majority of sexual offences occur within a family setting.
“We cannot be present in a family setting, but we can only advise that if there is a case of sexual offence in nature in a family, we are encouraging it to be reported so that we can prevent this from happening to many families.”
Lutunauga says the major challenge is that they cannot be present in every family setting, and they are only limited to the community level.
According to the police, 861 cases of sexual offences were reported between January and August this year, compared to 990 cases for the same period last year.
It says that while there is a decline of 13% in sexual offences cases this year, they are worried about the number of cases that have not been reported.
Lutunauga has called on people to report sexual offences, as they should have confidence in the law and let it take its own course.
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