A trailblazing Royal Navy sailor who once met Princess Anne raped a 19-year-old after ‘preying on lone, drunk females’ in a nightclub, a court has heard.
Sebastine Kava Liliu, 24 – the first Solomon Islander to join the Navy – spent two-and-a-half hours ‘observing the scene’ in the club to identify vulnerable women.
The award-winning recruit pounced after approaching his ‘very drunk’ victim and luring her out of the nightclub and into nearby bushes.
Kava Liliu, a member of the navy’s Logistics branch at the time, fled the scene but returned moments later for his cap, the court heard.
Shocking CCTV footage shows the woman stumbling to her feet after the depraved assault, at around 1.15am on February 11. With seemingly callous regard for his ‘distressed’ victim, Kava Liliu simply retrieved his hat and took a taxi back to his ship. He admitted rape at Portsmouth crown court last week.
Sebastine Kava Liliu, 24 – the first Solomon Islander to join the Navy – spent two-and-a-half hours ‘observing the scene’ in the club to identify vulnerable women
Police were able to snare the rapist as he had told his victim his name, which she was able to report to officers
The appalling crime came little more than a year after he was photographed meeting Princess Anne, in April 2023, during a Passing Out Parade at HMS Raleigh, the Navy’s basic training facility in Torpoint, Cornwall.
He was selected to meet the senior royal – who has held the rank of Admiral since 2012 – as the first person from the Solomon Islands to join the Navy.
But Prosecutor Rob Harding told the court Kava Liliu would go on to attack the young woman just yards away from the Astoria nightclub, in Portsmouth.
He said: ‘It would appear the defendant was out that evening, planning on isolating a drunk female for his own sexual gratification.
‘The evidence being his predatory behaviour and his actions which constitute the offence.
‘Also out, was the victim, who had been out enjoying herself and consuming alcohol and was not in a fit state.’
Kava Liliu was said to have entered the nightclub as a ‘lone male’ and stood ‘observing the scene’, ‘preying on lone, drunk females’.
‘Recognising the state the victim was in, he approached her and eventually managed to get her out of the nightclub,’ Mr Harding added.
‘Put simply, he then proceeded to take her into nearby bushes and raped her.’
Mr Harding said the victim was ‘isolated’ and incapacitated through drink which made her ‘particularly vulnerable’.
Kava Liliu was said to have entered the nightclub as a ‘lone male’ and stood ‘observing the scene’, ‘preying on lone, drunk females’
Chilling CCTV footage captured before the attack shows Kava Liliu following the woman out of one of the club’s rooms like he was ‘stalking his prey’, the prosecutor said.
He was seen again on CCTV getting in a taxi to take him to Victory Gate, the entrance to the city’s naval base.
Police were able to snare the rapist as he had told his victim his name. He was later interviewed and accepted what he had done.
In her victim impact statement, the woman said she still suffers flashbacks.
‘It is easy to say the physical effects,’ she said, ‘I no longer feel comfortable in my own skin.
‘I lost my dignity and privacy that day.
‘The mental effects are going to be hard to grasp – to be out enjoying yourself and lose that when you are at your most vulnerable.
‘Luckily, I have people around me who love and care for me who will help, but things are still difficult.’
She said she now suffers from sleepless nights and feels she can’t walk outside after dark.
But in a defiant address to her rapist, she said: ‘You may have taken my trust in the world and my sense of dignity, but you haven’t taken my voice.’
In mitigation, Robert Bryan said Kava Liliu – who sat with his head down as CCTV footage was played to the court – ‘may have picked her out’ and she was ‘vulnerable’, but disagreed she was ‘particularly vulnerable’.
Arguing that the rape was less pre-planned than the prosecution alleged, he said: ‘He accepts she was drunk. To put it bluntly, young people go to nightclubs to meet young people, they don’t go to nightclubs planning an attack.’
Kava Liliu previously won plaudits for his history-making place among navy ranks, including the prestigious Sapphire Trophy, which is given to the recruit showing the most progress over the 10-week basic training course.
Second Sea Lord Vice-Admiral Martin Connell congratulated the sailor on X, formerly Twitter, at the time, saying his winning the top prize was ‘all the more remarkable given that he swapped his home in the Solomon Islands for a career in the Royal Navy’.
The British High Commission in the Soloman Islands praised Kava Liliu for his ‘outstanding performance’ during his naval training, adding he had ‘inspired many fellow Solomon Islanders who are looking to follow suit’.
Kava Liliu was an active youth member of his local Catholic church before he left the small archipelago in the South Pacific for the UK and his naval training.
A Royal Navy spokesman said: ‘The Royal Navy places great importance on maintaining the highest possible standards of behaviour from its personnel at all times and any reports of behaviour that fall short of the Service’s standards are taken very seriously.
‘Whilst legal proceedings are ongoing it would be inappropriate to comment further.’
A spokesman for Princess Anne declined to comment.
Judge Michael Bowes KC adjourned sentencing until next month.
