Return of rapist pastor unsettles Tokelauans

A Tokelau church pastor who admitted raping his stepdaughter but was never charged is now under scrutiny after intervention from New Zealand.

Pastor Iosua Faamoni sexually abused the 12-year-old while she was living with him on the Atafu atoll in the Tokelau group in 1992.

The girl spoke out about the offence six years later, although she never made a formal complaint, and Faamoni fled to Australia.

But he has since returned to Atafu and shocked some of the small community of about 500 when he resumed preaching and started asking for girls to be sent to live with him.

A New Zealand doctor who had worked in Tokelau, Peter Adam, told the Herald he was horrified when he returned last September to discover Faamoni back on the atoll.

Dr Adam said he knew the pastor's history of sexual abuse as the victim, who now lives in Australia, had first complained to the wife of a friend of his.

Dr Adam worked in Tokelau for six months in 1995 and regularly returned to work with its health department.

He said he was unhappy that no formal action was taken against Faamoni. Instead, efforts were made to bury the offending to protect him and avoid shame on the community.

"She was very damaged ... and she was beaten as well as sexually abused."

Dr Adam said the offending had split the community on Atafu, the most northern atoll. He was "just about speechless" when he discovered Faamoni back on Atafu.

He was even more concerned to hear Faamoni was requesting young girls be sent to live with him.

Dr Adam said he had been called out to Atafu when it was reported a girl living with Faamoni was having fits.

"She was in fact having an emotional crisis about being placed in his home. The whole thing was too much."

He alerted the Tokelau elected representatives and called an emergency meeting of the village council to address the issue.

The situation demonstrated the problems with small, isolated communities dealing with sexual abuse cases where they opted for traditional remedies rather than following the law, he said. A "strong Christian exterior", where even a sexually transmitted disease case could cause a huge upset, compounded the problem.

Dr Adam is pleased the matter has been brought to the attention of the Wellington-based administrator of Tokelau, Neil Walter, and that further action is being pursued.

Mr Walter said he had discussed the matter with Tokelau's executive council, which had referred the matter to Atafu's village council.

A three-person delegation of the Congregational Church (from New Zealand, Australia and the neighbouring atoll of Fakaofo) was in Atafu consulting the village council and the Atafu branch of the church.

"It is expected that a decision will be taken then on the way ahead."

Mr Walter said there seemed to be a general acceptance that the offence did occur.

"It has been reported to me that there was a public confession of wrongdoing by the pastor on his return to Atafu last year, and that this was followed by a pardoning by the church community."

Mr Walter said the village process of forgiveness and reconciliation had not been accepted by everyone.

Tokelau was taking the complaint very seriously at the national level.