‘Possessed’ girl has to leave

Press, 16 September 1976, Page 14

‘Possessed’ girl has to leave

PA Auckland A 16-year-old Western Samoan girl, said to be possessed by evil spirits that can only be exorcised in New Zealand, will have to leave the country next week because of the Government’s new immigration policy. The girl, Aloiafi Satiu, of Otara, came to New Zealand in September. 1975, and a month later was taken to Middlemore Hospital in great pain. After the doctors could not find the cause her family began to believe she was possessed by an evil spirit that had to be exorcised.

She was “cured" by a Samoan “witch doctor’’ after leaving the hospital, and had been so cured about 10 times since, said the girl’s married sister, Mrs A. Tuagalu, of Otara, who looks after her. Mrs Tuagalu said that the attacks came about a month of six weeks apart. About two weeks ago an Immigration Department officer told Mrs Tuagalu that Alioiafi would have to return to Western Samoa, as her visitor’s permit had expired. On Tuesday the officer called again, and said that

if she did not leave in a week she would be deported. The family believes that if she leaves New Zealand, and her treatment by the witch doctor, she could die.

And the family’s problems do not end there.

Aloiafi’s six-year-old brother, Misilagi, has rheumatic fever affecting his heart. He spent about three months in the Princess Mary Ward of the Auckland Hospital, and his parents — his father has gone back to Western Samoa — are now faced with a general hospital bill of $4200, and a dental bill of $BO. While the two children’s health — and futures — in New Zealand seem uncertain. their sister, Mrs Tuagalu, says she cannot provide any more medical expenses or fares back to Western Samoa.

A spokesman from the Immigration division of the Labour Department said on Tuesday night that no details on the case were known, but all relevant facts would be taken into consideration.

The medical superintendent of the Auckland Hospital (Dr A. D. Warren) said that some countries did not have reciprocal social welfare arrangements with New Zealand, and their citizens would have to pay for hospital treatment. Western Samoa was such a country, he said.