A Norwegian woman who was attacked by an escaped prisoner has called on the government to act now without delay to address the string of crimes including rape that are harming Samoa’s image.
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Mina Weydahl is urging Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi to take note and put pressure on the relevant authorities to do their jobs to ensure Samoans and visitors to these shores are protected.
“Protecting the safety of the citizens is at the core of the responsibilities of a government,” said Ms. Weydahl. “As long as dangerous convicts keep escaping on a regular basis, the government is completely failing in their responsibilities. The saddest part is that innocent members of the public pay the price.”
Ms. Weydahl was running alone on the Mt. Vaea trail when he was attacked by a prisoner who had run away from Tafa'igata, Daniel Vailopa.
Speaking to the Sunday Samoan from England, she said she was lucky to have been able to free herself and escaped.
But Ms. Weydahl said what she had to endure was “horrible and unacceptable”.
She pointed out that the Ministry of Police and the Ministry of Prisons are not doing enough to keep the prisoners where they are supposed to be.
Vailopa preyed on her while she was going for a run on a Sunday morning at Mount Vaea.
She recalled that along the way she saw four men which three were escaped prisoners.
“Having seen me run alone, one of the escapees Daniel Vailopa tried to convince the other two prisoners to come after me but declined,” Ms. Weydahl recalled.
“As I was running down Daniel was standing on the trail blocking my path. I tried to run past him but he then caught up with me quite fast and held me back. He said he was going to rape me.”
Ms. Weydahl managed to escape but the culprit caught up with her again after a minute.
“We started fighting,” she said. “As were struggling I lost my iPhone which distracted him for a moment and of instinct I started screaming while running away again.
“By a miracle as I was about 3km into the woods at I managed to escape.”
With the help of friends, Ms. Weydahl went straight to the police who later caught Vailopa and was identified as the offender.
Ms. Weydahl said she does not want to scare people with her story but she wants to make people aware and be careful when they are out alone.
“No one told me it could be dangerous to go running on a Sunday morning in Samoa – I wish I had known,” she said.
“I share my story with you so you can be careful and tell your friends and family to be careful especially as long as the prison security is so weak.”
The U.N. employee urged women not to go by themselves but in groups.
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