In short:
A woman who was held captive by a Canberra man for four days in 2024 has given a victim impact statement to court.
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Sisituutuumata Fulivai, 47, was previously found guilty of 20 charges including forcible confinement, rape and assault over the incident.
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Fulivai will be sentenced at a later date.
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Warning: This story contains details readers may find distressing.
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A woman who endured days of abuse while being held captive by a man in Canberra has spoken about the "psychological and emotional mutilation" she endured.
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Sisituutuumata Fulivai, 47, was found guilty earlier this year by an ACT Supreme Court jury of 20 charges, including forcible confinement, rape and assault.
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The offending took place at a home in Lyneham in June 2024.
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The victim, then 24, managed to escape the property and fled naked and screaming onto the street, where she was found by police.
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'You took a machete to my mind and my sense of safety'
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In an emotional victim impact statement read to the court during a pre-sentence hearing, the woman described "96 hours of being stripped of [her] dignity and livelihood".
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"I was dragged into a void of physical and sexual violence so brutal it has severed my connections to the person I was before," she said.
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"You didn't just violate my body, you took a machete to my mind and my sense of safety in this world."
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The woman said she had been left with crippling PTSD and panic attacks.
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"I endure the flashback of the black void of nothing in your eyes in a nightly nightmare that makes me feel suffocated and trapped like I'm still there,"she said.
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"No person should ever have the chance to meet the monster I did."
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The victim's mother also addressed the court, describing how Fulivai's crimes had forced the family to grieve a once "vibrant girl" who was now a shell of her former self.
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"You would have showed more mercy killing her," she said.
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While the victim's mother was speaking, Fulivai tried to interject but was silenced by Justice Belinda Baker.
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Prosecutor Nathan Deakes said the offender had showed no remorse, instead blaming the victim and trying to paint her as the aggressor.
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"[He was] driven by power, control and sexual jealousy,"Mr Deakes said.
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During the trial, the court heard the pair had previously had consensual sex, but Fulivai later accused the victim of wanting to have sex with one of his friends.
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Mr Deakes described how the woman was stripped naked, repeatedly beaten with household objects, and choked, only to regain consciousness while being assaulted.
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"To offend against an unconscious woman who cannot defend herself is beyond comprehension," he said.
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The victim suffered more than 50 separate injuries during the ordeal.
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Victim's mother calls for harshest possible sentence
Defence barrister Christina Muthurajah said Fulivai did not have a criminal history until his life "took a sharp turn" in 2023.
She said he was in a "dark place" after losing his employment, business and home.
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In her statement to the court, the victim's mother urged Justice Baker to impose the harshest sentence possible.
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"He showed my daughter no mercy and he deserves the same,"she
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Fulivai will be sentenced at a later date.
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The Aporia