A 44-year-old man from the village of Faleatiu has been sentenced to four years imprisonment for unlawful sexual connection and common assault. 

Malili Siafolau was discharged on the count of armed with a dangerous weapon. 

While he was also sentenced to six months imprisonment on the charge of common assault, the presiding Judge, Justice Fepulea'i Ameperosa Roma ordered that the custodial sentences are to be served concurrently, less the time he had spent in custody, pending sentence. 

Siafolau was found guilty of charges comprising unlawful sexual connection, common assault, and being armed with a dangerous weapon. 

He was charged following an incident in Faleatiu on 23 July 2022 where he allegedly forced a 26-year-old woman to have sex with him. 

Senior Prosecutor Lupematasila Iliganoa Atoa appeared for the state while defense counsel Lucy Sio-Ofoia acted for the accused. The prosecution called four witnesses during the two-day trial: Police Constable Eli Junior Wilson, registered nurse Henrietta Fifita, and a first cousin of the accused, Litala Sapati.

The Police Constable took photos of the crime scene four days after the incident, the registered nurse saw the rape victim after the incident, and Sapati was the one that the victim and her son sought help from, moments after the sexual assault. 

According to the case's summary of the facts, the incident occurred on the evening of 22 July 2022 when the victim was at her home with her two-year-old son, while her husband and their two older children were at Fasito'o-Tai for a funeral. While preparing to sleep, the accused appeared at the victim's house and was intoxicated. He asked for tea and was told to get a cup from outside. He returned to the shelter, poured his cup, and told the victim he would leave when he finished his tea. 

He then engaged in a conversation with the victim and asked for her husband, who lied to him that he was out shooting bats. But he remained in the house, insisting the victim and her son were alone, and laid across in front of where the victim and her son were about to sleep. The victim then sat up and told the accused to leave, but he would not and said that he would leave, but only after they had sex.

The accused then stood up, walked outside, and shone his light around the shelter. He returned inside and as the victim tried to light her torch, the accused threw what appeared to be a rock at her. The object hit her on the back of her head and she fell, feeling dazed by the impact of the object, and had difficulty moving but tried to get up nonetheless when she heard her son crying. 

The victim then started to scream but the accused held her by the neck and strangled her. She struggled to resist and when she felt that she could not anymore, she pleaded for the accused to let her go and she would do as he wanted. The accused then got off the victim’s stomach as she tried to calm her son, who had been crying and put him back to sleep. After the accused sexually assaulted the victim, he threatened the victim not to speak to anyone about the incident. 

In his verdict, Justice Roma explained that the charge of unlawful sexual connection attracts an imprisonment term with a maximum of 14 years.

"In your case, I consider the need for deterrence and denunciation as primary purposes for sentencing," he said. 

"A custodial sentence will serve those purposes. Prosecution seeks a starting point of three years on the most serious charge of unlawful sexual connection. I have carefully considered the circumstances of those cases in relation to yours.

"Your Counsel submits that I consider a community-based sentence in addition to time that you have already spent in custody. I do not accept that submission. 

"This is a serious case of unlawful sexual connection involving actual violence on an adult woman in the presence of her young child. 

"For that reason alone, it is in my view more serious than Faatoto’s case which the prosecution relies on and which your counsel distinguishes in her submission.

"In view of the aggravating features of your offending, I adopt six years as the appropriate starting point. I deduct four months for the penalty imposed by your village details of which have not been provided. 

"I deduct a further four months for the apology and reconciliation, the details of which have not been provided. 

"I make a final deduction of 16 months for your personal circumstances including your previous good character and first offender status. The end sentence is four years."