18 Apr 2003

Samoan man sentenced to death for child murder

3:31 pm on 18 April 2003

19 year old Ieu Pasi Leleimalefaga has been sentenced to death by the Samoan Supreme Court after he was declared guilty of the murder of five year old Toesulu Solomona on February 3rd this year.

The five assessors delivered their verdict a day after the court had been read a confession made by Ieu to police a day after the murder.

In the statement, Ieu admitted luring the girl away from her village by offering her fruit.

He then carried her on his back to a place well away from the village where he violated her and then hanged her from a tree fearing that she would reveal what had happened.

The death sentence in Samoa has been commuted to life imprisonment on every occasion since the country achieved independence in 1962.