Fijian pastor for trial on underage-sex charges

The case of a Fijian church pastor charged with a raft of child sex offences is set to go to trial,  Stuff New Zealand reports.

Jone Conikeli, 41, appeared in the Hutt Valley District Court yesterday, where Judge Peter Butler permitted him to continue on bail and ordered him to appear in Wellington District Court in March, ahead of a trial.

The pastor was arrested and charged in October in relation to alleged sexual offending against two young girls. One was under 12 and the other under 16 at the time.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges including rape, assault with intent to rape, and indecent assault. Police confiscated his passport to prevent him returning to Fiji.

Conikeli is a pastor at the Wellington chapter of the Kingdom Ambassadors International Fellowship, a splinter group of the All Nations Christian Fellowship (ANCF), which originated in Fiji.

The leader of the ANCF has recently been freed from jail in Fiji for a sex crime.

Epeli Ratabacaca, a former military officer, was jailed for two years with a non-parole period of 15 months on November 14, 2012, after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman at a spa in Suva.

Source: stuff.co.nz