Police have charged the father of an 8-year-old girl who had been reported missing from Toamua last Monday 28 April 2025.
Police had put out a Missing Child report, calling for the public’s help to locate the young girl last seen by her family at Toamua on Monday 28th April.
However, when the child was located soon after, she refused to return home, reporting incidents of beatings and harsh discipline by her father.
“The father has been charged with causing injury and assault, as well breach of parents duty to provide necessaries,” said Commissioner Auapaau
The Police Chief adds that there is a possibility of additional charges for the 45 year old father.
“A parent who allows a child to go hungry, live in unsanitary conditions, or not attend school may be considered in breach of their duty to provide necessaries,” said the Commissioner.
The young girl is now with the Samoa Victim Support Group shelter and it is alleged this is the third time she has run away from home after excessive beatings.
The 8 year old’s father will remain in custody until the 13th of May 2025 for his first court appearance.
Cases of children being reported missing from their homes has become a regular occurrence in Sanoa, with Police issuing Missing Person reports on a weekly basis.
The use of physical force or the “sasa” to discipline children in Samoa remains generally acceptable, however, an Office of the Ombudsman National Human Rights Institute Report 2018 found that parents often used excessive beatings and unreasonable objects such as 2×4 (two by four) pieces of wood, large rocks (alā) steel rods and heavy wood (amo) to beat their children in the name of discipline.
Supreme Court Judge, Justice Vui Clarence Nelson who is a long time member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child often warns:
“You call it the discipline of sasa, I call it the crime of assault.”
