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Man charged with rape after his 16-year old girlfriend’s mother files complaint

The wall around the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF)
Both the man and the girlfriend admit to smoking meth before consensual sex
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A 27-year-old man was arrested last month for engaging in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl. It was the girl’s mother who reported the matter to police that led to the arrest of the defendant, after her daughter was found sneaking out late at night.

The young man, Minute Fiu is now in custody after he was arrested by police last month at his sister’s home in Kokoland.

The government claims that around 10:27p.m, last month, Nov. 19, 2020, a 53-year-old mother from Petesa contacted the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) to report that her 16-year-old daughter was repeatedly sneaking out late at night from her aunt’s residence in Malaeloa, and she wanted police to question her about her nightly forays.

The mother further stated to police that she heard rumors about her daughter’s relationship with a male by the name of Minute from Taputimu, but she didn’t have anything to prove it.

The mother had become suspicious that something was going on with her daughter and Minute, and she wanted to stop the situation. She told police that she was currently with her daughter, who was refusing to come back home with her and she wanted police to speak to her.

The mother also stated to police on the phone that her daughter’s behavior had changed and she wondered if she was on drugs or alcohol.

Several police officers responded to the call and met up with the mother who briefed officers regarding what had happened. Afterwards, she was advised by officers to come with her daughter to TPS to sort out what was going on.

The daughter is named in the court affidavit as T.L, the victim in this case.

The victim was interviewed by two police officers about why she keeps sneaking out of her aunt’s house late at night without her mother knowing.

At first, the victim would not speak about the situation, she told investigators that she doesn’t want her boyfriend to be in trouble because it was her own fault, not her boyfriend’s, however she eventually told the investigators that she was currently in a relationship with her boyfriend, Minute Fiu (defendant), a 27-year-old male from Taputimu. She also provided an oral and a written statement regarding her relationship with Fiu.

According to the victim’s statement to investigators, she moved out from her mother’s house 6 months ago to stay at her mother’s eldest sister’s house in Malaeloa.

The victim revealed to investigators that the reason she moved out from her mother’s house was because her stepfather (her mother’s husband) allegedly touched her inappropriately twice, both time when he was drunk. For that reason she decided to move out and stay with her mother’s sister after she told her mother what had happened.

The victim told investigators that the reason she sneaks out from her aunt’s residence is because she wants to go chill with her friends. She told investigators that she started having a relationship with her boyfriend around December 2019 when she met him on the bus one afternoon after school.

They started their relationship by sharing love messages on Facebook and even talking on the phone until Feb. 21, 2020 where they both agreed to meet and they had sexual relations, for the first time. T.L then recounted to investigators other incidences of their sexual relations.

She further admitted that they would meet up late at night either near her home or in front of the retail store in the area. She also told police that everything that happened between them was consensual; and that there were times before she and her boyfriend had sex that they both smoked meth.

The victim further stated to investigators that it was she who provided drugs for both of them, and told them how she purchased the illegal drugs, including the name of her girlfriend, the village and the location of the house in the village. The victim also provided the name of the man from whom her girlfriend went and bought drugs.

After hearing the victim’s statement, investigators proceeded to the defendant’s home in an effort to locate him, but Fiu was not home. He was not home the following day either.

It was not until two months after the complaint was filed that Fiu was arrested at his sister’s house in Kokoland and transported to the TPS for questioning.

Before Fiu was transported to the TPS for questioning, he was patted down and illegal drugs were found — A glass pipe containing methamphetamine was discovered inside his pants pocket, along with two hand rolled cigarettes.

Fiu was Mirandized and agreed to speak to police regarding the alleged incident.

According to Fiu’s statement to investigators, the relationship with T.L started after they met on a bus. They would connect on Facebook and that led to a conversations on the phone and meeting up at certain places in the Taputimu area. He told police that they were in a relationship for about 9 months starting from December 2019 until August 2020.

He told investigators that in February 2020 he started to have a sexual relationship with the victim. The victim would call him and they would meet up at random places near his house or near the victim’s home in Malaeloa. Fiu further stated that it was the victim who provided him with drugs to smoke before they had sex.

The defendant made it clear to investigators that the relationship was consensual.

When asked about the drugs discovered in his possession, Fiu told investigators that the drugs belonged to him.

Fiu was later booked and confined in jail to await his court appearance and for a warrant to be processed.

Fiu made his initial appearance in court last month.

The government has filed two separate cases against Fiu.

In the first case, Fiu is charged with two counts of rape and one count of sodomy, all class B felonies, punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than five years nor more than fifteen years.

In the second case, Fiu is charged with one count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine and one count of unlawful possession of marijuana, both unclassified felonies.

Due to the seriousness of the alleged crime, Fiu is being held in custody without bail.