Father imprisoned 7-years for incest [1]
Friday, July 2, 2010 - 21:41. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
A 63-year-old father from Fua'amotu was sentenced to seven years in Hu'atolitoli Prison for five counts of incest after he repeatedly committed the indecent sexual acts on his own daughter, from 2006 to December 2009.
'Isileli Tu'ifua appeared before Chief Justice Anthony Ford for sentencing on July 2 at the Nuku'alofa Supreme Court where he apologised to the court and to his daughter for his action and the problem he had caused.
The Chief Justice told the court the father had pleaded guilty to all five counts of incest committed between 2006 and December 31, 2009 in which the offending was frequent and sustained.
The daughter, who is the third youngest of his eight children, was only 15-years-old when the offending began in 2006 and she is now 19-year- old and living at the Refuge House at the Women's Crisis Centre were she receives counselling and feels safe.
The court was told that she was afraid to tell anyone of the indecent acts her father did to her because he had threatened to kill her if she did.
The accused is 63-years-old and had never been in trouble with the law before. He worked in construction before maintaining the family plantation and fishing.
The Chief Justice stressed that the maximum sentence for incest is 10 years imprisonment.
Rape
The Chief Justice said the court was provided with a Victim Report provided by 'Akanesi 'Aho an experienced social worker to assist in its sentencing.
The victim report disclosed that when the daughter was 10 years old, she was raped by an uncle while her aunt was in the same room watching her husband carrying it out.
The Chief Justice put to the father that no one can possibly begin to imagine how the traumatic ordeal and the sordid experience must have been for his young daughter. The father was aware of the incident because he and his wife took her to Vaiola Hospital.
"Having been raped by her uncle at the age of 10 she was particularly vulnerable. She was entitled to rely on her parents for all the emotional support and protection that she so desperately needed. Instead what you did in the cruellest imaginable way was to take advantage of her vulnerability and abuse your position as a trusted parent."
Your daughter should have been able to rely upon both you and wife for the additional emotional support she would have needed to cope with of such a horrible experience, instead as the facts revealed, you took advantage of her vulnerability to satisfy your own deviant desires, said the Chief Justice.
Left
The court was told that the mother, on the other hand, was preoccupied in caring for her own mother and attending her community weaving group daily, apart from Sunday. She leaves home at 8am and does not return until after 10pm or later.
As the social worker reported she failed in her duty as a mother because the victim was left to fend for herself, including cooking for the father and the rest of the family, said the Chief Justice.
He added that the mother also chose to avoid the reality of her husband's behaviour even though she had the inclination about what was happening, she thought it immoral to contemplate such grotesque thoughts.
In January 2010 the daughter disclosed to her cousin who was visiting from New Zealand what had been going on. The cousin told her mother and then a formal complaint was made at the Mu'a Police Station.
Guilty plea
The Chief Justice said if had it not been for his guilty plea he would have been looking at a sentence of 8-9 years imprisonment.
He therefore sentenced the father to seven years imprisonment for each count that would be served concurrently, making seven years in total. The sentence is backdated to February 2 when he was arrested and taken into custody.
The court was told that the daughter emphasised to the social worker that she did not want to see her father again.
The Chief Justice also made further orders that the accused be divested of all authority over his daughter. Her councillor at the Women's Crisis Centre, Leti Siliva was appointed as her guardian until the age of 21 years or as further ordered by the court.