Sep 3, 2008

61-year-old man gets 51-year prison sentence

Menlo Park resident found guilty on 19 child molestation counts

By Banks Albach / Daily News Staff Writer

A 61-year-old man found guilty on 19 counts of child molestation will probably die behind bars after San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Norman Gatzert sentenced him to 51 years to life Tuesday morning, prosecutors said.

Sione Matangi Mahe, a Menlo Park resident, was arrested in March 2007 and convicted by a jury April 15 on charges that he sexually molested his 15-year-old step-granddaughter repeatedly over a five-year period, starting when she was 6 years old.

Mahe's conduct ranged from groping and touching the girl's breasts to penetration with his fingers. The jury also found him guilty of two similar counts from 2005 involving the 11-year-old daughter of a family friend from Phoenix, Ariz., whom he grabbed and whose pants he attempted to pull down.

Both girls testified against Mahe, who has been in custody on $2.5 million bail since his arrest.

Prosecutors also called on two additional witnesses to testify - both women who claim to have been groped by Mahe, Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Ow said.

A close friend of Mahe's daughter and the aunt of the primary victim testified that Mahe repeatedly groped and touched her roughly 20 years ago in Tonga. The second witness, the 22-year-old sister of the first victim, made similar and more recent groping allegations, but Ow said she was forced to drop those charges because of a technicality.

"(Mahe) still denies everything," Ow said.

Ow said family members learned about Mahe's behavior in early 2007 at a memorial service for a family friend. The victim had gone to live in New Zealand with family for a few years when she was 10, which is why Mahe couldn't get to her in recent years, Ow said.

"She had nightmares that he was coming," Ow said. "It was really rewarding to meet with this girl, who is now a young woman, and help her reach closure on what was a horrible period in her life."

E-mail Banks Albach at balbach@dailynewsgroup.com.