8 Oct 2014

Growing cyber sex crime issue in Samoa

4:56 pm on 8 October 2014

Samoa Victim Support says it has noted an increase in cases of sexual crimes involving social media over the years.

The issue has been highlighted this week in a case where a 27 year old man was jailed for eleven years after he was found guilty of nine charges including rape, filming his unlawful sexual acts, and later uploading naked images to facebook.

Leilani Momoisea reports.

Samoa updated its Crimes Act in 2013, to include the new crime of voyeurism - making it an offence to record a person without their permission while engaging in sexual activities. It also amended its Indecent Publications Ordinance to prohibit the passing of indecent material using mobile phones. Samoa Victim Support says the number of people seeking assistance in cases of sexual crime involving social media has increased by 10 percent this year, compared to 2013. It says awareness raising in the village communities is continuing and village representatives are sending out the message to perpetrators that this is a serious offence.