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Police v Folau [2008] WSSC 91 (27 October 2008)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
HELD AT APIA

BETWEEN:

POLICE
Prosecution

AND:

ILALIO TOI FOLAU
male of Faleula-uta
Defendant

Counsels: Ms Titi for prosecution
Ms Atoa for defendant

Sentencing Date: 27 October 2008

SENTENCE BY JUSTICE VAAI

The order that I made previously for the suppression of the name of the victim in this case still stands.

The victim at the time of the offence was 13 years of age; the accused was 34 years of age. The victim and the defendant are cousins. On the day in question in December 2006 the accused led the victim into the toilet. The accused then proceeded to undress the victim and he sat down the floor of the toilet while the victim was standing. He then proceeded to lick the victim’s vagina for sometime before he inserted his fingers inside her vagina. He then proceeded to put his penis towards the victim’s vagina. At that time the victim’s older sister knocked on the door and called out to the victim and the defendant to come out.

This is the third time that this defendant has appeared before this court on sexual offences. In 1993 you were convicted of rape and sentenced to four years imprisonment; in 2007 I sent you to prison for eight years imprisonment for rape. There were other minor offending for which you were also imprisoned. Your previous convictions entitle me to conclude that you are a compulsive sex offender with young school girls as your victims.

In October last year I sent you to eight years imprisonment for the rape of a schoolgirl who was walking to your village primary school. The victim of that rape was your cousin, and the victim in this case is another one of your cousin also attending primary school.

Despite your guilty plea in this case you do not appear to accept the responsibility for your offending which is a clear indication to the court of your lack of remorse. You told the probation service that the accusations levelled against you were perpetrated by your father’s family and it was only through your counsel’s advice that you entered a guilty plea despite your innocence. I clearly recall you levelled the same accusations against your father’s family during the hearing of the rape charge against you last year and the assessors understandably did not accept your story. With your track record the primary consideration for the court is deterrence and rehabilitation to protect our young girls. Society has zero tolerance for this kind of offending and the sentence must mirror that lack of tolerance.

In considering the appropriate sentence I take into account that this offending was deliberate and meditated. Your offending did not proceed further than indecent assault because the victim’s older sister intervened. As an older cousin by some 31 years, the victim understandably looked up to you and expected you to provide protection for her. Young Samoan girls would always expect their older male relatives to provide them with protection and safety.

For this offence I take 2 years as a starting point. The only mitigating factor is your early guilty plea which although I reluctantly accept as a mitigating factor I will however deduct six months. You will serve one year and six months imprisonment, to be served after your current term.

JUSTICE VAAI