A father facing 79 charges of rape and 79 charges of incest appeared again before the Supreme Court of Samoa this week asking to be released from custody in order to take care of his wife.
The man who has been granted name suppression to protect the identity of the victim, his own daughter, has told the Court that his wife has a disability and he is the only caretaker.
Prosecution led by Fuifui Ioane strongly objected the application on the basis that the alleged acts of sexual violation were towards his daughter.
“Your honor he has other daughters at home”.
The Supreme Court rejected the bail application and the matter has been adjourned to the 25th of November where the Court has ordered the accused to enter a plea.
The past several weeks have seen multiple cases of sexual violation allegations against older men towards young girls. The majority of them have entered not guilty pleas. The Court has set hearing dates for these cases next year.
Two grandfathers, one 60 and the other 75 years old have entered not guilty pleas for alleged sexual acts towards their own grand-daughters.
Hearing dates of 25th and 31st August have been set for these two cases where witnesses would need to give evidence in open court.
This year the Pacific Islands Law Officers Network (PILON) addressed ways to promote special measures such as CCTV video and blocking screens, for vulnerable sexual violence complainants such as daughters having to give evidence against their own fathers and grand fathers.
The grand daughter of the 75 year old is now under the care of the Samoa Victime Support Group.
Another three cases came before the Courts this week. All 3 accussed were middle aged men and all pleaded not guilty to sexual violation charges towards young girls. Hearing dates were again set for the July-August period next year.
Findings of Samoa’s National Human Rights Report on Family Violence 2018 states that up to 1 in 5 women in Samoa are raped in their lifetime.
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