A man who was charged with rape has been acquitted by the Suva High Court after it found that the defence managed to create a reasonable doubt in the case of the prosecution.

The accused was alleged to have raped his niece in August 2011 who later became pregnant.

However, during the trial, the accused said he and his niece had a love affair for two years and he knew it was a ‘taboo’.

The court heard the complainant had also admitted that even she wanted to maintain the secrecy of what happened between them.

The matter came to light when the complainant’s teacher found that she was pregnant.