271 people were charged with a total of 578 counts of serious sexual offences in 2019

271 people were charged with a total of 578 counts of serious sexual offences from January to December last year.

There were 269 victims of these serious sexual offences.

183 of these victims were under the age of 18 years.

This means 68% of people raped or sexually assaulted last year were under the age of 18 years.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions says of the 271 accused persons, 37 were juveniles and 5 were police

There were 368 rape cases, 17 attempted rape cases, 1 case of aiding and abetting rape, 5 cases of assault with intent to rape, 22 cases of abduction with intent to rape, 26 cases of indecent assault, 26 cases of defilement, 1 case of attempted defilement and 112 sexual assault cases.

All accused persons charged with sexual offences were male however victims of the sexual offences were both male and female comprising of 256 female victims and 13 male victims.

There were 107 offences that occurred in domestic relationships or where the accused was known to the victims.

The youngest accused person was a 13 year old boy while the youngest victim was a 3 year old girl.

44 cases were withdrawn in court.