A school teacher at Pavaiai Elementary school is facing multiple sexual charges after four 13-year-old female students accused him of touching them in a sexual manner.
The case against 7th grade teacher Senetenari Malele started when a mother and her 13-year-old daughter went to the Tafuna substation, on March 29, to report an incident that occurred at Pavaiai Elementary School.
The mother said her daughter approached her two nights earlier and relayed that one of her friends didn’t want to go to school, because she was uncomfortable with her 7th grade teacher—the defendant. According to the friend, Malele had been touching her inappropriately during school hours in class.
Police interviewed the friend who said the first incident with the teacher happened on March 13.
She alleged the teacher told her to come to the back where he was sitting. Then he grabbed her waist and pulled her towards him. According to the girl, the defendant rubbed her backside and asked if he should stop.
The girl told police she was afraid that if she told the teacher to stop, it would affect her grades. He continued to wrap his arm around her and touched her right breast.
The girl said, on March 24, the teacher again touched her back side and she told one of her friends what happened.
That friend said the teacher also did the same thing to her.
The girl said she told the homeroom teacher what happened and the teacher reported it to the school office, the next day.
She also told police that the teacher did the same thing to other females.
Police made a list of six students based on information from the alleged victim and, with the help of the Vice Principal, contacted their parents for interviews with their daughters.
Police interviewed three other girls apart from the first student and they corroborated that when they turn in school work during class, the teacher would tell them to come to the back of his desk then he would touch their behinds, wrap his arms around their waists and touch their breasts.
One girl said, on one occasion, the teacher used a stick to hit her back side; not too hard, but she knew it was in appropriate.
Another student recalled that the teacher made the student, whom police first interviewed, come to his desk and made her sit on the floor next to him while he was on the chair. She said, the girl was biting her nails uncomfortably and the defendant was swaying back and forth on the chair. The girl also told police about the times that the teacher would touch the same student’s breasts and backside.
Malele is charged with two felony counts of first degree sexual abuse and misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child-six counts, third degree assault as a misdemeanor C-5 counts, and two counts of third degree assault.
Malele’s bail was set at $20,000 and his preliminary examination was held today.
