extreme psychological damage to victims and can be directly attributed to significantly higher suicide rates. There are currently approximately 92,000 women and girls alive in Samoa today. 66 If the above figures hold true then within their lifetimes: • • • • 18,400 will be raped a family member; 8,832 will be raped by their husband or partner; 6,348 will consider suicide; 2,300 will attempt suicide. These projections are also more likely to be an under-estimate given what we know about under-reporting of matters such as this out of either fear or shame, or a simple lack of understanding of what constitutes rape. In the SFHSS 2000, 4.6% of the women surveyed who reported never having been abused also reported that their first sexual encounter had been forced. In other words they had been raped, yet did not regard this as abuse or a crime. Regardless of their perception of the act, the consequences remain the same. These are not just numbers, they are sisters, mothers, daughters, wives, neighbours, and friends. They are people like Destiny and her daughter67 who still have to receive regular counseling to deal with the long term effects that her husband’s continuous violence had on them both. 9.3 Other Specific Groups Given the lack of evidence and case studies presented to the Inquiry by or on behalf of specific groups (persons with disability, elderly, fa’afafine, SOGISC persons), it is not possible to draw many firm conclusions on the impacts, other than to say that they are not immune from the wide range of consequences already detailed in relation to children and adults generally. Furthermore, it is not difficult to imagine how barriers to reporting and access to services can be harder or how the psychological and physical impact of violence in the following situations can be even more substantial in certain hypothetical circumstances: • • • • 66 A person with physical impairment who is constantly told by their families that they are useless and that their impairment is their fault. A person with a psychological condition which makes resisting unwanted sexual behaviour more difficult. An elderly person with memory difficulties who is subjected to financial and verbal abuse by their family. A young fa’afafine who is trying to understand and accept their own identity but who is physically and verbally abused for displaying their gender identity. Samoa Bureau of Statistics. (2016). Samoa Census 2016. Retrieved from www.sbs.gov.ws/index.php/new-documentlibrary?view=download&fileId=2114. 67 Case Study 13.