The State - News from May 1, 1986

A woman has repeated her assertion that she voluntarily had sex with a man convicted of raping her in 1980, saying she lied to police to protect her marriage. John Vasey, 58, was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to six years in prison, but appealed the case after the alleged victim, Sulieti Malimali, said she lied. The appeals court ordered the fact-finding hearing that concluded in South San Francisco. Vasey’s attorney, Howard Berman, told the judge the woman’s family informed him she had returned to the Tonga Islands. However, he later learned she was still living nearby, and she was subpoenaed. She said she was a live-in maid at Vasey’s home and was in bed in her room when he entered naked. “We had sex, and I wanted it. I didn’t tell him to stop or to leave the room,” she said through an interpreter. She testified that she knew police thought Vasey had raped her, but explained: “I was really ashamed and was afraid that my marriage would break up, so I just went along with the story.”