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Court Report

ALLEGED ATTACKER TURNS HIMSELF IN

Sitau Ofoia Jr turned himself into police on allegations that he hit his brother-in-law with his vehicle and allegedly struck him with a cricket bat several times, two weekends ago.

Police had been searching for the accused since the incident, which ended when Ofoia walked into the Central Police Station last Friday.

Ofoia will make his initial appearance in the District Court today. He is being held on bail of $100,000 and is facing assault charges.

According to the police, they received a call from bystanders that a man was lying unconscious after he was struck by a vehicle in the airport parking lot. Witnesses told police that the victim was running when the suspect allegedly hit him with his car, and when the victim fell the suspect got out fetched his cricket bat and allegedly struck the victim several times.  

Police said when they arrived at the scene the victim was lying unconscious and the suspect had fled leaving his vehicle and the bat he allegedly used to strike the victim.

According to police the victim suffered a severe cut on his head with injuries to his legs. Police said the victim was rushed to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery due to the severity of his injuries.

The suspect’s vehicle was impounded and the cricket bat allegedly used confiscated as evidence. According to police, the victim is reported to be recovering from his injuries at the LBJ hospital.

Ofoia is on probation in connection with an assault case in Vaitogi several years back.

UPDATE ON POLICE PRE-FLAG DAY CELEBRATION ENFORCEMENT  

As of yesterday afternoon police have arrested 13 people for public peace disturbances, two for driving under the influence and one man is facing a felony assault charges. They will appear in the District Court this morning.

Ta’aloloioufavia Lt John Cendrowski, who heads the traffic division with the Department of Public Safety, urges members of the public to please refrain from driving while under the influence of alcohol, because you put everyone on the road at risk.

“One DUI was caught Friday night with another on Saturday evening,” he said. Ta’aloloioufaiva said with the free concert, rugby games, preliminary fautasi race and other functions going over the weekend luckily no major accident occurred.

However, he said there was an incident where a car ran off yesterday morning in Matu’u. The female driver fell asleep at the wheel and ran off the main road running into the guard rails. Ta’aloloioufaiva appeals to members of the public to please pull over when you’re tired.

“Don’t force yourself to operate the vehicle when you’re tired, you never know when you will fall asleep at the wheel and it could cause a major accident, putting yourself at risk and others who are traveling on the main highway. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

He added aside from the run off, there have only been bumper to bumper type of incidents, where drivers who are just trying to leave end up side swiping another car in the process. Other than that, it has been peaceful on the main highway and hopefully it stays this way, the head of the DPS traffic division said.