Dad cops 18 years jail term for raping daughter

The Samoa Supreme Court has sentenced a man to 18 years imprisonment for raping his biological daughter.

Justice Tafaoimalo Leilani Tuala-Warren ordered a suppression order on the identity of the victim and the defendant according to a Radio Polynesia report.

The victim is now 17 years old, married and a mother and she says she is in disbelief that her own father would do this to her.

She has not told her husband about what happened and has not seen her father or his family since the offence.

The victim was 14 when the incident occurred several years ago.

The 40-year-old father was convicted by Assessors in November last year.

Justice Tafaoimalo said this is a gross breach of trust by the defendant and he committed the offence in a family environment where she is entitled to grow up safe and protected by her father from this sort of behaviour.

This close familial relationship is a significant aggravating factor, as is the breach of a relationship known as va tapuia in the faaSamoa.

She cannot find any other mitigating factors and that he has previous convictions and therefore is not a person of previous good character.

“He has not expressed any remorse, either through Counsel or in his presentence report. “His ex-wife and the victim say there has been no reconciliation. He is a heavy drinker which is not a mitigating factor.

“Deterrence will be of paramount consideration in today’s sentence. “The rape of a young girl is in itself unacceptable and inexcusable, but when it is committed by her own natural father, the level of abhorrence is staggering, particularly in a family situation where a child should rightly have an expectation that she or he is safe and protected by her parents, in particular her father.

“The defendant is convicted of rape and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment.”