Ads by Google Ads by Google

Grandfather accused of raping his 15-year-old granddaughter

American Samoa District Court building
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A grandfather was arrested by police last week pursuant to an arrest warrant alleging  that he raped his granddaughter last year.

The 15-year-old girl told investigators that she was allegedly raped by a man from Nu’uuli, which is why she decided to run away from her grandmother’s house in Nu’uuli where she had been living, and went to Sa’ilele to her grandfather’s house for her safety. Unfortunately, she was also allegedly raped by her grandfather while staying at his house.

(Due to the relationship of all parties involved in this matter, Samoa News has decided not to reveal the identify of the defendant in this matter. The victim is not identified due to her being a minor.)

The defendant, the victim’s grandfather, made his initial appearance in District Court this week.

He is charged with one count of rape involving domestic violence, a class B felony punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than five years nor more than fifteen years, and one count of incest involving domestic violence, a class D felony punishable by a term of imprisonment for up to five years, a fine of $5,000, but not less than $150 pursuant to 47.0402, or both  such fine and imprisonment.

Bail is set at $15,000.

If he posts bond, among usual restrictions ordered by the court is that the defendant not have any direct or indirect contact with the victim, nor try to communicate with any of her family members.

There is no mentioned in the affidavit whether the government is going to charge L.F — identified by the victim as the first alleged rapist.

THE CASE

The government alleges that on Jan. 30, 2021, an agent from the Child Protective Services (CPS) of the Department of Human and Social Services walked into Fagatogo station to report an incident involving a 15-year-old minor from Nu’uuli who has been placed at the Shelter.

According to the CPS agent, the minor was a victim in incidents where she was allegedly raped by two different male individuals at two different times and at two different locations.

Investigators met up with the CPS agent at the Shelter along with the victim. The affidavit refers to the victim as B.S.

THE FIRST ALLEGED RAPE

B.S told investigators that in November 2020 sometime during a school day, she recalls it was during their mid-term review week — when the 1st incident occurred.

B.S stated that it was early morning about 7a.m she was walking through a shortcut road right next to the Shoe Tree Store in Nuuuli when a male individual called her over. The full name of the male individual is mentioned in the affidavit with the initials of L.F.

B.S refused to stop but L.F kept calling her and walked towards her. While she was walking, heading to the front to wait for a bus, L.F got closer and held her back by pulling her left shoulder and B.S kept telling him that she needed to go to school, but L.F told her that it would be quick.

The victim told investigators that L.F surrounded her upper body with his hands and guided her to the two-story building behind Western Union. L.F opened the door to the two-story building and guided her upstairs. When they reached the 2nd floor, L.F dragged her into a room and made her sit on the bed with both of her feet on the floor. He then held her down on the bed, restraining her, and using his left hand to untie her lavalava and allegedly raped her.

After the alleged rape took place, the victim got up and put her uniform back on and rushed down the stairs while L.F was already outside of the house waiting for the victim to come out. The victim then left to go wait for the bus and went to school. She felt sick at school and her body felt numb. She was not feeling well afterwards when she got home.

The victim states that at times, L.F came around their house and spent time with her grandmother. She then decided to run away from her grandmother’s house in Nu’uuli and went to Sa’ilele to her grandfather’s house for her safety.

The victim told investigators that on Dec. 27th last year while at her grandfather’s village, she went to evening church where she called her grandfather (defendant) to pick her up. Defendant picked her up after church and went to Sa’ilele.

On the morning of the following day, Monday, Dec. 28th, the victim went with the defendant to drop off the defendant’s wife for her dialysis appointment around 2:00a.m. When they returned home, the defendant told her not to talk to anyone or go near his male cousin.

The next morning on Dec. 29th, the victim went to her friend’s house and returned to the defendant’s home with her friend. The victim noticed that the defendant had changed and was upset when she brought her friend home. So early morning of Dec. 30th, the victim and the defendant went to drop her friend off at the market. When she returned home on the same date, things were not the same and the defendant’s attitude towards her was weird and different.

The next morning, Thursday, Dec. 31st, the victim was sleeping at home by herself while the defendant went to drop off his wife for dialysis without waking the victim.

It was while she was sleeping inside the room, she felt someone touching her legs going upwards towards her thigh area. She got up immediately and saw the defendant (her grandfather) touching her legs.

She ask the defendant what he was doing and he replied in Samoan, “O le mea lea e ka’u o le alofa” — translated “This is what you call love”.

The defendant covered the victim’s face using a pillow to stop her from screaming but the victim removed the pillow. The defendant then jumped on her using his body and covered her face again. He used his upper body to hold the victim down before he allegedly raped her. In doing so, the defendant told the victim not to make any noise.

The victim told investigators that while the defendant was restraining her, she cried out and started screaming out loud. However, the defendant told her continuously, “This is what you call love”.

The victim was scared and afraid, and that’s when she escaped from her grandfather’s home and went to her friend’s house.

From that time on, the victim tried to tell her mother who is incarcerated at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF), her older sister and some family members but they didn’t believe her story. She then told her friend’s parents and felt comfortable when they helped her.