Page 8 - IB APR 2017

Abuse
The vulnerable misled

Rape in

the name

of religion

The rise of new Christian denominations in Fiji has Officers escort Pastor Jone Rabuno Cokanauto after
by Jone Luvenitoga brought on new doctrines and mistrust. Photo: Invictus he was sentenced. Photo: The Fiji Times
AFTER two convictions and with a third Apparently Vakadranu convinced the in 2015, said it was only through faith,
pastor still on trial for rape, social media women that as shepherd of the flock he they were able endure those trying
discussions in Fiji have shifted from the had the right to have sex with members times.
gravity of the crime to moral analysis of of his congregation. Others have fled their former places of
the victims. It was through the testimony of worship, stigmatised by the very people
Leaving no stones unturned, ques- two other members of his church who they once considered friends.
tions are peeling the layers off the word spurned Vakadranu’s advances that Public opinion is that the three pastors
innocence and laying accountability at he now serves a 14-year sentence in have caused greater levels of mistrust
the feet of the victims. Korovou Prison. in the once hallowed institution of the
At the same time, however, they In a similar case, Pastor Jone Rabuno church.
discuss the irony of pastors who carry Cokanauto, 52, allegedly kept his dark There is now doubt over the organi-
out their supposedly holy work while secret for nine years while preying on sations once responsible for providing
preying on the community. Modern-day his young flock. But in 2015 members of moral guidance for communities.
wolves clothed as sheep, to borrow from his church youth group made allegations To June last year, Fiji’s Office of the
Biblical descriptions. against their spiritual director. Director of Public Prosecutions released
Out of fear, people are now question- The third pastor – despite his convic- statistics which showed 46 reports of
ing the influential strength of churches tion and prison sentence – was welcomed cases of sexual offences- 29 rapes, one
whose teachings sway women towards with open arms by the church after a attempted rape, two cases of defilement
carrying out the extreme demands of public act of repentance. and 14 of sexual assault.
the pastors. Recent research, however, shows Of the victims, 18 victims were under
In a recent court appearance, a teen- that despite maximum punishment for the age of 18 and 11 cases occurred in
ager, her mother and a third woman perpetrators, emotional wounds and domestic relationships.
testified to having consensual sexual trauma suffered by the victims never There was one serious sexual offence
intercourse with 75-year-old Pastor Io- truly goes away. that involved a four-year-old who was
wane Vakadranu in order to receive his Some, bold enough to share their attacked by her father.
healing powers. stories with The Fiji Times newspaper Out the total reported cases in 2015,

8 Islands Business, April 2017