Samoa Still Prosecuting Consenting Adults

We've noted the law and prosecutions in Samoa before. Like many other places, including most US states, adults are still criminally prosecuted for having consensual sex. Sarai Ripine reported at samoaobserver.ws that a father and daughter both tried to take the "blame" away from each other. That sounds like love at work.

A father and daughter have both claimed they were the first to ask for sex with each other. A 28-year-old woman facing incest charges has told the Supreme Court it was she who asked her father, not the other way around. The father told police he asked first.

Both she and her father have pleaded guilty to incest charges.

She is 28. She is capable of consenting to sex. While they each tried to protect the other in this case, I think in some cases the lovers might end up with the parent or older sibling taking all of the "blame," even to the point of the younger person saying it wasn't consensual, as it spares the younger person from being prosecuted. If the option is one of gets a criminal prosecution and a "sex offender" brand or they both get that, it is better, they figure, that only of them gets it. This is NOT to deny that assaults aren't happening, perpetrated by a parent or older sibling. They certainly are, but those are an entirely different matter than consensual sex, which is what I'm talking about here.

According to the Police summary of facts, the woman and her father, 54, talked together in front of their house on a night between 1st and 31st May 2013, while the mother was in Savai’i. The father told his daughter how her mother was suspicious of the nature of the relationship between the two of them. The daughter told her father she could not understand why her mother was angry with her, police said.

However, the two were attracted to each other. That same night, the father asked his daughter to have an affair with him, and she agreed.

This blog does not promote breaking existing vows to others (cheating). Rather, in an ideal world, vows and other mutual agreements would be renegotiated or ended before cheating could happen. However, very few places still have legal sanctions against cheaters, and this criminal case was not a prosecution for cheating, but for "incest." That's ridiculous.

When the mother came back from Savai’i she heard what had happened between her husband and daughter. She reported them to a matai family member and the matai took that issue to the village council. The pair was punished by the village. The police case was contradicted by the probation report.

This is the mother's business, and that of the two lovers. It is nobody else's.

Justices Vui Clarence Nelson asked the girl to confirm that she told Probation that it was her seeking sex from her father, not the other way around. She said the Probation report was correct, that there were two occasions she asked her father, but her father refused both times. It was only by the third time she asked him that her father agreed.

Justice Nelson said he needed time to read all the documents relating to this matter.

The pair was remanded in custody until Monday 13 January 2014 for sentencing.

How ridiculous that public resources are being wasted this way. I have to wonder if this was a case of Genetic Sexual Attraction. No information is provided about whether or not the father has been in the daughter's life all along. It is a reminder that people in consanguinamorous relationships should protect themselves, because even if there is not cheating, some jealous or envious person could rat lovers out.