A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes terror and fear, often in humans.

For some of our young women, these monsters are very real, and often they have appeared in the form of a family member, a stepfather, or even a father. The behaviour of a 54-year-old man towards two teenage girls shows the prevalence of such monstrous acts and how it often goes unreported.

It is also sad to hear that when such cases are highlighted some people would rather ignore them because it gives the culture and the nation a bad name. The highlighting of such cases by the media is to create awareness so young women can speak out and not continue to be silenced.

In the article that was published on Saturday 16 March 2024 titled, ‘Sex predator jailed’, a 54-year-old man described as a sexual predator was sentenced to 13 and half years in jail with the Supreme Court hoping that the sentence would be a warning to men with such pervasive intents.

The man pleaded guilty to four counts of raping his 15-year-old stepdaughter and two counts of sexual assault on the 15-year-old niece of his defacto partner.

Supreme Court judge Justice Vui Clarence Nelson said there was a breach of trust and abuse by the defendant of his position within the family because he was in effect the first victim’s stepfather.

“His cultural duty and function was to protect and nurture the first victim not to use her as a sexual plaything. There is also the fact that the consequence of the defendant's action was an unwanted pregnancy, a fact that traumatically altered the life of this young girl. And has led to a rupture in the relationship between the young girl and her mother,” he said as he passed the sentence.

“There is also the fact that there is almost a 40-year age difference between the first victim and the defendant. He was older, more mature and she was young, naïve and inexperienced.

“A further factor is the predatory nature of the defendant's behaviour in that the offendings all took place when the first victim was in a relatively vulnerable position and to that extent his behaviour was pre-meditated.”

The court is doing whatever it can by sending a message that such offences would lead to a sentence towards the higher end of the sentencing band. This always should have been the case and perhaps now a precedent has been set that such offenders when convicted get put away for a long time.

This article also showed the very little protection offered to the first victim in this case. The stepdaughter of the man ended up pregnant, yet the mother of the child never left the side of the man that kept committing the offence. She failed to see the monster in the man.

There are many such cases because this is one of the reasons why the victims are removed from their homes and kept at the Campus of Hope. Why can’t the perpetrator be placed elsewhere and the young woman allowed to live with her family where she is supported?

From this summary of facts of this case, this is another sad case of a grown man taking advantage of his position in a family and forcing himself and his unwanted sexual attention on vulnerable young girls of the family.

In the case of the first victim, this led to her becoming pregnant and she and her young baby are now in the care of the Samoa Victim Support Group. Her victim impact report and the circumstances of this matter indicate that her life has been radically altered by what the defendant did to her.

Not surprisingly she expressed a wish never to see the defendant again or indeed her mother as well who she seems to hold rightly or wrongly partly responsible for what happened.

As Samoans, we are proud people. We are proud of our culture. We practice it and we promote it. But are such actions against women, children and the vulnerable also part of that?

If it is, then we need to change this narrative. Perhaps that is where the mistake is. We should be able to talk about this as a society, as a family unit and as individuals.

The only way to fix a problem is to acknowledge that there is a problem. Many of us are so fast to like posts on social media or even comment on issues such as this giving the notion that we do not condone it. Do we not condone it?

Then why is it happening? As Christians we go to church every Sunday, for some, it is not once but twice in one day. Do we ever ask ourselves, what have we learnt from words that were spoken from the pulpit or are we going to show off our best clothes which we buy just for Sunday?

There are monsters among us, it is high time we point them out.