“The most vivid that has lived with me for many years was a 13 year old (pregnant)
girl who was brought in by her parents. I remember her being very withdrawn and
her mother doing most of the talking. When I told them we had to report this (the
rape of the daughter) to the police the story came out that the woman was making
her own daughter have sex with her father (her husband) because he wanted
more kids and threatened to leave her (the mother). This whole family
disappeared soon after the baby was born, before the police arrived.”
Dr. Malama Tafunai, Inquiry public hearings
The widespread nature of sexual violence and incest was also impressed upon by the Inquiry by Justice
Vui:21
“We have to listen to so much heartbreak. Stories that our community never gets
to listen to. This is the room (his courtroom) you have a 10 year old girl telling me
about being raped by her father. You will have a 6 year old boy telling us how his
uncle sexually abused him. 6 years old! You will hear stories of incest where a
father repeatedly commits sexual intercourse on his own biological daughter.
There are three cases on today. All rape. In my courtroom it is the rape of a 14
year old niece by her 60 year old uncle. In the court next door it is rape by a 30
year old man on his 14 year old neighbor. In the court room next door it is the rape
of a 17 year old boy by a 55 year old. This is our reality.”
Justice Vui Clarence Nelson, Supreme Court Judge, Inquiry public hearings
7.1.9 Other emerging forms of sexual violence against children
The Inquiry was also told of a number of other different types of sexual abuse of children, that of child
prostitution (where the victims are both boys and girls), and child pornography.22
“Have you heard about tourists coming here for sex with young boys? Yes it has
occurred and it is happening. There have been cases reported and we also see it.”
Police outpost officer, Inquiry public hearings
This concerning trend has been under-reported so far but was confirmed by other witnesses to the
Inquiry, including those working in the media. Additionally, the Judiciary has started to come across cases
of child prostitution and this was confirmed by Justice Vui.23 Whilst strictly falling outside of the scope of
the Inquiry, the root causes of child prostitution and child pornography may be similar to other types of
child abuse and violence.
21
Justice Vui Clarence Nelson is a Supreme Court Judge of Samoa and is also Committee member and Vice President of the UN
Committee on the Rights of a Child.
22 See Lurlene Christiansen. (2015). “Child Sex Tourism in Samoa.” Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and
Tourism Expert Paper. Retrieved from http://www.ecpat.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/4.7-Expert-Paper-ChristiansenLurelene.pdf. Accessed 26 April 2018.
23 MJCA and UNICEF. “Empowering the Youth & Empowering the Family Unit to stop Violence – Youth and Family Courts.”
Workshop. Apia, November 2017.