8 Nov 2014

American Samoan man jailed for sex crimes

3:28 pm on 8 November 2014

An American Samoan man has been jailed for 15 years for sex crimes.

Hanipale Malae is convicted of committing sex crimes against women he brought from Samoa as domestic workers in 2013, the youngest of whom was 15 at the time.

The court said the 58 year-old father of 13 used the daughters of other fathers as sex slaves.

The government's initial case charged Malae of 12 counts against three women from Samoa.

However under a plea agreement, the defendant pled guilty to three charges plus an additional charge of conspiracy to commit tampering with a witness in a second case.