16 people have been charged with a total of 55 counts of sexual offences for the month of June this year.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions says there are 41 counts of rape, 1 count of attempted rape, 1 count of assault with intent to commit rape, 4 counts of aiding and abetting rape 1 count of indecent assault and 7 counts of sexual assault.

Of the 16 accused persons, one was a police officer.

There were 16 victims of whom 10 victims were under the age of 18 years.

In 8 incidents, the victims and the accused were related to one another.

A 41-year-old police officer has been charged with the rape, attempted rape and assault with intent to commit rape of his 18-year-old sister-in-law.

A 67-year-old man is charged with 12 counts of rape of his 10-year-old granddaughter while in another incident a 38-year-old man is charged with four counts of rape, one count of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault of his 12-year-old daughter.

There was one incident where a 28-year-old man was charged with four counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault of his 18-year-old and 15-year-old stepdaughters.

The accused person allegedly started committing the offence in 2017 when the elder stepdaughter was 12-years old.

In another incident, a 46-year-old man was charged with three counts of rape of his 19-year-old stepdaughter. There was one incident where a 20-year-old woman was charged with three counts of aiding and abetting rape of her 10-year-old niece. The accused allegedly aided her husband who was formerly charged of raping her niece.

A 41-year-old man was charged with the sexual assault of his 13-year-old niece while in another incident, an 18-year-old man was charged with the rape and sexual assault of his 14-year-old cousin.

There was one incident where a 31-year old man was charged with the rape and assault causing actual bodily harm to his 21-year-old girlfriend.

A 21-year-old man was charged with the rape of a 14-year-old girl from his village while in another incident, a 25-year-old man was charged with the rape of a 15-year-old girl from his village.

There was one incident where a 32-year-old man was charged with the rape of a 22-year-old woman. The accused person was a friend of the victim’s husband.

A 26-year-old man was charged with the rape of a 14-year-old girl, however, this matter was discontinued after the victim admitted to making a false complaint.

In another incident, a 24-year-old man was charged with the rape of a 22-year-old woman, however, this matter was discontinued to insufficient evidence.