A senior Samoan justice department official said that...

A senior Samoan justice department official said that the brutal rape and murder of a five-year-old girl had been hijacked by the on-going debate on whether or not to execute the death penalty. The solution, he said, was firstly to identify the conditions that allow this intent to exist. "Second, the government should initiate and support extensive programmes and workshops in both the urban and rural communities to create an awareness of the issue," he said. "The debate over the death penalty is really a non-issue ? It makes for a healthy democratic quorum but at the end of the day, we all know that nobody will be executed," he added. "Samoans in general are driven by a conscientious morality that makes such a ghastly event as a public hanging highly unlikely." He also stated that, despite popular opinion, the death penalty would not deter serious crime. "Most Samoans respect the law but do not fear it," he said. "Sanctioning the killing of an offender will make people lose that respect for the state."