A teenager led police to her accused rapist by using the ‘Find My iPhone’ app to locate her mobile phone weeks after she was allegedly attacked and robbed.
The girl alleged that one night late last year she was dragged into bushes and raped while walking home near Arrawarra Beach, on the north coast of central New South Wales.
Her phone, as well as clothing and jewelry, were stolen during the alleged incident, according to police statements in court.
Coffs-Clarence district detectives arrested Samoan fruit picker Vitale Tiole, 34, two days later and charged him with the alleged Nov. 10 rape.
A teenager helped lead police to her accused rapist by using the ‘Find My iPhone’ app to locate her mobile phone weeks after she was allegedly attacked and robbed. Fruit picker Vitale Tiole (above) had already been wrongly accused of the alleged rape.
Tiole spent two months in custody before all charges were dropped when police arrested another Samoan fruit picker, Agaalofa Agaalofa, for alleged sexual assault.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal the teenager used the ‘Find My iPhone’ app in the days and weeks after her alleged rape, but got no signal from her mobile phone.
Then, sometime in January, the phone lookup function indicated the teenager’s phone was in the Grafton area, about 50 kilometers northwest of Arrawarra, according to a source close to the investigation.
It is understood that the mother of the alleged rape victim told police that her daughter had located the mobile phone and they acted on that information.
The alleged victim had completed a rape kit after the alleged assault and detectives were awaiting DNA test results while Tiole was remanded in custody.
The girl alleged that one night late last year she was dragged into bushes and raped while walking home near Arrawarra Beach, on the north coast of central New South Wales. Fruit pickers pictured near Arrawarra
A court heard investigators traced the teenager’s phone to where Agaalofa was staying near Grafton and on January 16 arrested the 25-year-old.
Agaalofa appeared at Coffs Harbor Local Court the following day charged with one count of theft and his unconditional bail conditions were upheld.
The same court later heard that Mr Tiole had been assaulted by other inmates while detained at the maximum security Clarence Correctional Center before he was granted leave on January 10.
The source told Daily Mail Australia that police sought a DNA sample from Agaalofa and on January 30 he was arrested again.
Agaalofa was arrested in Dirty Creek, about 12 kilometers northeast of Arrawarra, and this time he was charged with aggravated sexual assault, deprivation of liberty, as well as aggravated robbery.
When facing a magistrate the next day, police prosecutor Jack Chaffey said the DNA test results had “significantly changed” the direction of the investigation.
Agaalofa (above) was arrested in Dirty Creek, about 12 kilometers northeast of Arrawarra, and charged with aggravated sexual assault – deprivation of liberty, as well as aggravated robbery.
Sgt Chaffey told the court the teenager’s mobile phone had been taken during her alleged sexual assault and traced to Agaalofa’s residence.
Agaalofa’s DNA matched evidence collected from the rape kit completed by the teenager, Sergeant Chaffey told the court.
The court also heard that a female DNA profile had been detected on clothing found in Agaalofa’s accommodation and identified as her own by the alleged victim.
Sergeant Chaffey said Agaalofa had committed multiple “egregious” sexual acts against the teenager during a prolonged assault, the ABC reported.
“The (alleged) victim made efforts to defend herself and call for help, but was physically overpowered,” Sergeant Chaffey told the court.
Agaalofa’s lawyer, John Hennessy, said his client refuted the police statement of facts about the alleged rape and would contest the charges, while making a bail application.
Vitale Tiole was living in this converted shipping container when he was arrested and wrongly accused of rape. Agaalofa Agaalofa, who lived nearby, has now been charged with the alleged attack.
Hennessy said Agaalofa had never met the teenager and had recently been living in the Grafton area where he worked picking berries.
Magistrate Hugh Donnelly remanded Agaalofa into custody after raising concerns about his failure to appear in court.
A day later, on February 1, Tiole made his final appearance at Coffs Harbor Local Court, where all charges against a married man and father of four were dropped.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said the force could not comment on any role the teenager played in allegedly leading detectives to Agaalofa while the case was before court.
At the time of the alleged rape, Agaalofa, Mr Tiole and hundreds of other seasonal workers were in temporary accommodation at Arrawarra Holiday Park.
Since 2019, fruit pickers granted work visas under Australia’s Pacific Labor Mobility scheme have come to Arrawarra to pick berries at a nearby farm.
Up to 400 of them are packed into converted shipping containers and dongas as they work in the fields planted by Costa Berries at Corindi, about 5 kilometers to the north.
Most of the foreign workforce is recruited in Pacific island countries, including Samoa, Tonga, Kiribati and Vanuatu, as well as Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste.
Workers are grouped in their accommodation by nationality and language.
Arrawarra is otherwise a popular destination for surfers, backpackers and caravan tourists who flock to the town for its idyllic seafront location.
Locals have complained of drunkenness and aggressive behavior by some of the seasonal workers which they say is turning the place into a shanty town.
Following the alleged rape, the migrant workers were removed from the holiday park and sent back to their home countries or elsewhere in Australia.