According to local media on Tuesday, Fiji international Api Ratuniyarawa was sentenced to jail for raping three women in Cardiff.
The 37-year-old admitted to the attacks that happened between October 31 and November 2 of last year, and Cardiff Crown Court jailed him for two years and ten months.
With almost thirty caps for Fiji, Ratuniyarawa was in the capital of Wales on November 4th to play for the Barbarians against the Wales national team.
The lock, who has also played in France and for the Northampton Saints, will spend the next ten years as a registered sex offender and will be required to serve up to half of his term in jail before being granted a license.
Born on July 11, 1986, Api Ratuniyarawa is a professional rugby union player who most recently was a member of the London Irish, an English Premiership team, before their team went into administration.He was added to the Fiji Rugby World Cup squad.
He signed a contract with the Northampton Saints in September 2016, joining fellow Fijian player Campese Ma’afu on the team.
After signing with the Saints, the lock played in three club games before being called up to Fiji for the Autumn Internationals. On Saturday, November 19, 2016, at Twickenham, he earned his 20th cap for his nation against fellow Saints Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes, and Taimana Harrison.
Ratuniyarawa, who has made 31 appearances for the team, played a part in the Saints’ 2017–18 European Champions Cup rugby campaign. Ratuniyarawa made an impact off the bench in that match as they defeated Stade Francais by a single point in the European Champions Cup play-off final to secure the final slot in the competition the following season.
The forward and teammate Northampton Saint, Campese Ma’afu, were also chosen for Fiji’s 2017 international summer series.
The South Wales Police accused Ratuniyarawa of sexual assault in November 2023. Later, at Cardiff Crown Court, he entered a guilty plea to one charge of sexual assault and two charges of assault by penetration. He was put on the sex offenders register and given bail until his sentencing hearing on January 9, 2024. In January 2024, he was sentenced to two years and ten months in prison.
