12 Jan 2012

Sex crime jump recorded in American Samoa

12:59 pm on 12 January 2012

A prosecutor in American Samoa says there was a massive increase in the number of sex crime cases last year and a number of them involved minors as victims.

The Deputy Attorney General, Mitzie Jessop Folau, is quoted by Samoa News as saying that there were more than 300 sex crimes in 2010.

She says it was more than double that in 2011.

Ms Folau says the majority of the cases are rape and sexual assault and the victims are mostly girls aged 16 years and under.

She says a lot of cases are coming to light, because families are reporting matters to the authorities.