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One man jailed, another injured for life after fight over green coconuts

Afa Fuimaono outside of the Court after he was sentenced last Friday for using a machete to strike another man three times during a land dispute in December of last year. During sentencing, Chief Justice Michael Kruse pointed out that sadly the land belongs to neither men — yet the incident has had such a negative impact on both men's lives.  [photo by AF]
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — “There are many non violent ways to mediate disagreements that can occur from land disputes in American Samoa, and a machete is not one of them.”

This was the statement assistant attorney general Woodrow Pengelly gave to the Judges during the sentencing of a 48-year-old man who was convicted of using a machete to caused severe injuries to another man due to a land dispute.

The incident erupted when the two men involved in this case fought over green coconuts that the victim took from land the defendant claims is his. The outcome of this fight brought a huge impact to the lives of both men’s families, with the victim now left with a severe permanent physical disability — unable to provide for his wife and kids, while the defendant has been ordered by the court to depart the territory and remain outside of its jurisdiction for the period of 5 years, leaving behind his wife and a 3 children.

The sad part of the story according to Chief Justice Michael Kruse, is the land the two men fought over does not belong to either of them.

Afa Fuimaono, a father of three appeared before the High Court last Friday for sentencing. He was initially charged with a class A felony first-degree assault, which carries a punishment of life imprisonment or at least 30 years in jail. But under a plea agreement with the government, Fuimaono pled guilty to the lesser felony of second-degree assault, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 5 years, or a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

With his guilty plea, Fuimaono admits that on Dec. 22, 2017 at his plantation, he struck Elisara Paselio three times with a machete causing him severe injuries to his body.

When he was given the chance to address the court, he apologized to the High Court and the people of American Samoa for his action and asked for forgiveness. He also apologized to Mr. Paselio who was the victim in this case, and asked his family to please forgive him for his wrong-doing.

Fuimaono spent a few minutes of the chance he got from the court to explain his side of the story about what happen. On the day of the incident, Fuimaono went to do his usual work at his banana plantation. However, in the middle of his banana plantation, he found green coconuts lying on the ground. He then saw Elisara who was inside his banana plantation trying to steal the coconuts.

According to Fuimaono, he then took all the green coconuts back home with him, before he returned to his plantation. When he arrived back at his plantation, Elisara called out to him and asked why he took the green coconuts with him. Fuimaono said he did not respond but continued with his work.

“Suddenly I saw Elisara run fast toward me and [he] punched me in the face, which caused me to fall down and hit my head on a rock. I felt dizzy and unconscious when Elisara punched me but I woke up when my head hit the rock,” Fuimaono said.

“Once I was conscious, the first thing that came into my mind was the machete that I was holding. I then grabbed the machete and struck Elisara three times, to his foot, his arm and then to his body. It was not my intention to strike Elisara, but out of fear for what he did to me, that’s why I used the machete.”

Fuimaono told the court that he was a hard-working man for his family. Two of his children are now serving God’s mission off island, leaving him, his wife and his 8-year-old daughter at their home. His daily routine is to drop his daughter at school before going to work at his plantation, because his plantation was the only way he could get money to care for his family.

Fuimaono’s attorney, acting public defender Michael White called the defendant’s wife to the witness stand. The wife asked the court to please forgive her husband and release him to care for their family. She said Afa is the right hand man for the family. She further told the court that their family has already performed a traditional apology to Elisara’s family and they have accepted it.

Kruse asked Mrs. Fuimaono to tell the court where had her husband first been employed, and she replied that her husband used to work at the wharf for a company responsible for unloading containers.

Kruse said the reason why he asked was because Immigration informed the Probation Office that Fuimaono has a P-5 status, which specifies “special skills labor”.

“Do we have a shortage of stevedore workers on island?” Kruse asked the government attorney. Pengelly said he’s not ready to answer that question, but he will make sure the court provides an answer at a later time.

Kruse said the reason why he asked was because the defendant was brought on island to work at a local stevedoring company.

White asked the court for a probated sentence, saying that Fuimaono’s wife and daughter really needed him back home to work on their plantation to feed them. White further told the court that his client has no prior criminal record.

Pengelly on the other hand asked the court to sentence the defendant to a term of five years probation, with certain conditions. He also asked the court to order the defendant to depart American Samoa and remain outside of the territory for the period of his term of probation.

The prosecutor told the court the government believes the defendant is truly remorseful for what he did. However, he said that there are many non-violent ways to mitigate disagreements that occur from land disputes in American Samoa, and a “machete is not one of them.”

Pengelly further told the court it appears that the defendant was trying to justify his actions by saying the reason he used the machete to strike Elisara was because he (Elisala) first punched him hard in the face, which caused him to fall to the ground and his head hit a rock.

“The government believes that the defendant’s action was not a self-defense but out of anger,” Pengelly said.

The court then sentenced Fuimaono to a term of imprisonment of 5 years and a fine of $5,000. Execution of the imprisonment sentence was suspended and the defendant placed on probation for 5 years with certain conditions.

He has to undertake a period of detention of 20 months at the Territorial Correction Facility (TCF) without any release unless by order of the court.  Upon serving one year of detention, the balance will stay and the defendant is to depart the territory and remain outside of its jurisdiction for the period of probation.

The court has ordered the defendant’s sponsor to pay the fine of $5,000.