Man charged for making 13-year-old girl his wife

By Deidre Tautua-Fanene 19 June 2017, 12:00AM

A man in his early 40s has been charged with sexual violation of a 13-year-old girl who he made to be his wife.

According to the Acting Assistant Commissioner Sala’a Moananu Sale the incident occurred in one of the villages in Savaii.

“Initially the matter was reported to the police at Tuasivi as assault,” Sala’a told the media.

“However the police found out that the accused wife is a 13-year-old victim.

“The accused has been in prison before and he has had previous convictions of theft and burglary.

We are not sure at this stage whether he has any convictions of sexual violation.

“According to police reports the victim is the wife of the accused. He assaulted her and she reported the incident to the police.

“So when the police investigated the matter they found out through her birth certificate that she is just 13-years-old but they are living as a couple.

“This means she should be in Year 9 right now.”

The man, whose name is withheld, is in custody.

“The accused is in custody,” he said.

“There will be more people who will be charged in this matter if the investigation is completed. People who might have known about this matter but never reported the matter to the police.

“The parents of the victim will surely be charged if the investigation confirmed that they knew about the matter because the girl is way too young.

“The maximum penalty of this kind of case is 10 years imprisonment.”

By Deidre Tautua-Fanene 19 June 2017, 12:00AM

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