The Tongan community is raising funds to pay for a reward to find the person who brutally attacked the director of the US Peace Corps in the kingdom over the weekend.

It was understood the 56-year-old was taken to Vaiola hospital on Saturday and that she and her husband left Tonga on Monday.

The woman was jogging along a footpath behind one of the residences at the waterfront in Sopu when a man attacked her about 10am, police said.

She received severe injuries to her face.

The Peace Corps Office in Tonga confirmed the victim was the director of the Peace Corps, but would not answer any other questions.

Paul Jurmo at the Peace Corps Office directed Kaniva News to the organisation’s main office in Washington. We had received no response from the office when this story was written.

The attack has infuriated the community after we published a story on the attack on Saturday 16.

Many have described the attack on Facebook as embarrassing and giving a bad images of Tonga.

There have been calls for the assailant to be given the maximum penalty if they are caught.

A commenter on our website said:

“This young lady leave the comfort and safety of her homeland to come all the way to so called “The Friendly Island” voluntary so she can do good to the wider communities and being brutally attacked like this. I am dumbfounded and speechless.”

Fundraising

The US-based Tongan internet radio station Vākē Talifolau started a campaign this afternoon calling on social media users to support a drive to raise $10,000 to help find the attacker of the Peace Corps victim.

The money will be given as a reward for anybody who could help Police identify the attacker.

The radio station’s general manager Sione Tuʻalau Makahili said it had consulted the Peace Corps offices in Tonga and Washington and was awaiting contact from the Tongan Police about the campaign .

The public has been asked to contact the radio at 6502077551 or  radiovtf@radiotongavtfusa.com for details.

In 2014 Kaniva News reported on plans to make a film about the murder of  Peace Corps volunteer Debra Gardner in the village of Ngeleʻia in Tongatapu on October 14, 1976 by Dennis Priven, a US Peace Corps volunteer.

The film’s producers said it would allege that US authorities helped Priven, who was charged with murder, to go free.

The  main points

  • The Tongan community is raising funds to pay for a reward to find the person who brutally attacked the director of the US Peace Corps in the kingdom over the weekend.
  • It was understood the 56-year-old was taken to Vaiola hospital on Saturday and that she and her husband left Tonga on Monday.
  • The woman was jogging along a footpath behind one of the residences at the waterfront in Sopu when a man attacked her about 10am, police said.
  • US-based Tongan internet radio station Vākē Talifolau started a campaign this afternoon calling on social media users to support a drive to raise $10,000 to help find the attacker of the Peace Corps victim.

For more information

Peace Corps Tonga

Film claims US Peace Corps helped accused go free after 1976 Tongan killing