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Police v PL [2025] WSSC 49 (13 June 2025)

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
Police v PL [2025] WSSC 49 (13 June 2025)

2023-02356 SC/CR/UP

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SAMOA
HELD AT MULINUU

BETWEEN: POLICE

Informant

A N D: P.L.

Defendant

Counsel: L. Strickland for prosecution
L. Sio-Ofoia for the defendant

Sentence: 13 June 2025

SENTENCE

1. The defendant faces two (2) charges: that on 13 May he did indecently assault the complainant in this matter by touching her vagina; secondly same date, same place he did indecently assaulted the complainant by squeezing her breasts.
2. On trial day he vacated his not guilty plea to the charges and substituted with guilty pleas. In accordance with the usual practice of the court the complainants name place of residence and any details that may serve to identify her will be permanently suppressed.
3. Because the defendant is her biological brother his name will also be suppressed from publication and this case is to be reported as Police v PL.
4. The uncontested Police Summary of Facts states the defendant is currently 22 years of age and was 20 years at the date of the offending. He is serving a term of imprisonment for burglary and theft. The complainant is his biological sister and at the time of offending was 17 years of age.
5. The defendant is the eldest of ten (10) children and the complainant is the third of the children but the eldest girl. The complainant has now obtained a scholarship and is presently studying overseas under a grant obtained through the Samoa Victim Support Group. A group that runs a shelter for vicitms of sexual or violent offending and one that fills a much needed gap in this country. Post this incident, the complainant was taken into the custody of the Samoa Victim Support Group and she has been fortunate to be able to have an opportunity to further her studies overseas.
6. The Summary states that on Saturday 13 May 2023 between midnight and 1:00 am in the morning the family were asleep at the family home. The complainant was asleep on the floor inside her papa’s bedroom, her younger sister was sleeping next to her and their papa sleeping on a nearby bed.
7. The complainant was awoken during the night by the feeling of someone lying behind her and something poking her bottom from behind. She felt someones hand touching her body starting from her vagina moving to her breasts and squeezing each breast. She moved around pretending to be waking up and at that point she heard her fathers voice from the living room. The person behind her stopped what he was doing stood up and as he walked away she recognised that it was the defendant. She was able to identify him from a light coming from a nearby bedroom.
   
8. She told no one of the incident but subsequently at school her headmaster noticed that she seemed troubled and unfocussed on her school work which was for her unusual. The young girl told the headmaster what her brother had done to her and the matter was reported to the Police. An investigation was carried out the defendant was apprehended and charged leading to his court appearance today.
9. Subsequently the defendant was convicted of offences of burglary and theft which has resulted in his current imprisonment term. But I note this is his first sex related offending and he is accordingly entitled to be treated for those purposes as a first offender.
10. Indecent assault carries a maximum five (5) year imprisonment penalty at law. The aggravating factors of this case includes the fact that the offending was carried out in the family home in a bedroom where others of the family were also sleeping. It involves the defendants biological sister who is younger than him. As such she had to be protected by the defendant not preyed upon. The offending was also carried out while the young girl was asleep and the defendant only stopped when he heard their father’s voice.
11. The offending has also caused the complainant substantial trauma and her Victim Impact Report indicates a history of sexual, physical and emotional abuse within her family environment. The report contains allegations of other family abusers and it would seem the defendant became one of them.
12. It is no excuse that the defendant as he told the Probation Office may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol or that he was at the time running with “a bad crowd”. The defendant crossed the line and broke the ‘va tapuia’ or sacred covenant between a brother and sister. The complainants Victim Impact Report speaks in the following manner of what he has done to her:
    • “I feel hurt inside and I feel like it is a knife going through my heart. I started not to trust any male around me, I get scared and think that they are after me. I cried, knowing that this emotional feeling will always be with me for the rest of my life.”
13. The report also speaks of how this young girl loves to study and dreamed of a better future for herself and her family. She had high marks at school and looked forward to further studies at a University. She says:
    • “When this happened I felt wasted and unworthy, I thought that I was not good enough. It affected my grades and in the middle of my Year 13 I felt no sense of belonging and struggled at school. I lost focus and my grades were not as good as before.”
14. It is fortunate and to her credit that she has nevertheless been able to recover from this and to secure an opportunity for higher education through the Samoa Victim Support Group. She acknowledges in her Victim Impact Report that she has been given another chance to achieve her dreams but also says that defendants actions “scarred her for life,” that it will always be there. She seems a person of strong character PL and you are lucky to have a sister like her.
15. In these circumstances prosecution have sought a start point of 2 to 2½ years in prison. In the normal course of events I would start with a 2 years start point. But the fact that the victim is your biological sister and the fact that this offending occurred in the home environment leads me to increase to a 3 years start point.
16. From that start point you are entitled to certain deductions for mitigating factors that your counsel has properly pointed out. Firstly for your first offender status as noted above I deduct a period of 3 months. I also take note of what your biological mother told the Probation Office as recorded in the pre-sentence report. She relayed that you are an obedient son that unfortunately grew up in an abusive environment with his paternal family which had easy access to illegal narcotics. Your mother also mentioned to the Probation Office that you are a caring individual who not only helped her with daily tasks but also encouraged her to leave your father after years of his domestic abuse.
17. That shows me that somewhere deep inside you is a capacity to change. I also note you were a relatively young 20 years old when you committed these offences. You are entitled to some deduction reflecting your young age and immaturity and your potential as a person who is capable of making the right choices. The court encourages you to do that in the future. To reflect those factors I will deduct a further 9 months from your balance of sentence, leaves a balance of 2 years in prison.
18. For your late guilty plea, I will give you a credit of 6 months leaves a balance of 18 months in prison.
19. For these indecent assaults on your sister, you will be convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison as a sentence for both charges. But this case is a different offending to your current terms and they must be served cumulatively to your present term of imprisonment.
20. O le fautuaga a le fa'amasinoga i lau susuga, o lea e lei tai tai lou olaga a o lea ua matua sasi a ii lou olaga. Tuli faalelei lou faasalaga. Ou te iloa foi e le o oe o se tagata e faavalevalea ona o lea e atagia mai o lena e lava lou malamalama ma lou intelligence ma lou tofa e faasa’osa’o ai lou olaga. Aua e te toe pipi’i i tagata ia e aofia ai i laau faasaina ma mea faapena. Taumafai e pipii i tagata e manuia ai lou olaga e te le tula’i ai i mea faapea ma e tigaina ai i gauta i Tanumalala. Ia a’o le mea lena o le mea a oe.
21. Ae mo le lumanai a e magalo mai aua nei toe molia mai oe i ni mea faapenei, aua o le mea moni lava e toe molia mai oe e tasi a le faaiuga e fai e le fa'amasinoga o le toe ave o oe i gauta. O le mea a lena a oe, a fia faamaimau faapea lou olaga o le faaiuga lena. Ae mo le faaiuga o le aso o lea ua faamanino atu e 18 masina lou faasalaga pe a mae’a ona tuli lou faasalaga na e tuli i le taimi nei. Ua e malamalama? (Defendant: malamalama lau afioga).
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JUSTICE NELSON