Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A 28-year-old mother accused of abusing her 7-year-old daughter by using a rubber slipper is now in custody after she was arrested last week by investigators pursuant to an arrest warrant from the court.

The case against the defendant reached authorities after the father of the victim, who is the defendant’s ex-husband walked into the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) to file a complaint against the defendant for assaulting his daughter, the victim.

(Samoa News has chosen to not identify the mother of the 7-year-old child due to the age of the child, as per our usual protocol.)

On May 23rd, the father walked into the TPS and requested police assistance regarding his daughter who was allegedly abused by his ex-wife by beating her using a rubber shoe. (The ex-wife is named in the court affidavit.)

A police sergeant, along with another senior officer were assigned to investigate the matter and interviewed the father and his daughter (victim) regarding the alleged incident.

It was reported that the alleged incident occurred at the defendant’s home while their children were under her care.

The victim’s father told investigators that according to an agreement made with Social Services and his ex-wife regarding their children was that, his ex-wife would take the children throughout the week from Monday- Friday and he would take the children for the weekend.

On Friday, May 22, 2020 at around 5p.m he contacted his ex-wife regarding their children and told her that he’s on his way to pick up the children so that they can spend the weekend with him. However, his ex-wife refused to allow the children, including the victim (their 7-year-old daughter), to go with him. The ex-wife told her ex-husband that he could pick up their children on the following weekend.

However, the victim’s father did not rest but continued to try and find a way to pick up his children.

On the following morning, Saturday, May 23, the ex-husband went to his ex-wife’s house to pick up his children. This time, the defendant agreed and allowed her ex-husband to take the children with him.

The man took his children home and gave them a bath. It was then he discovered bruises all over his daughter’s body. According to the father’s statement to police, he was shocked to see the bruises and thought that this might be the reason why his ex-wife had not wanted him to take the children with him.

The father asked his daughter about the bruises all over her body and the victim told her father, “Ga sasa e Mom a’u i le faalogata.”, meaning, “Mom hit/ punished me for not listening/ being naughty.”

The father then got his daughter ready and they both went to the TPS to report the matter. The father told investigators that he did not think that something like this would happened to his daughter while she was under her mother’s (ex-wife) care.

Investigators interviewed the victim in the presence of her father. The victim told investigators that on Friday afternoon, May 22, she was told by her mother (defendant) to go take the charger. She forgot about the charger and was later asked about it by her mother.

All of a sudden, her mother became angry at her for disobeying her instructions and that is when she was beaten badly with a rubber shoe. The victim told investigators that her mother hit her body with the rubber shoe multiple times while she was crying and told her that her body is hurt.

According to the government’s case, the victim sustained injuries such as bruises on her hands, right shoulder, neck towards the back area on her right side, forehead and both ears from the beating.

An officer used her personal camera to take photographs of the victim’s injuries.

Investigators contacted EMS for assistance in an effort to treat the victim and at the same time contacted Social Services regarding the matter. About half an hour later, EMS personnel arrived and treated the victim before transporting her to the LBJ Medical Hospital for further treatment.

A report from the doctor who examined the victim stated that the victim had suffered bruises on both ears, which was causing pain in the head area, but there was no head trauma.

On the afternoon of the same date, May 23rd, after putting together all the information regarding the alleged incident, investigators proceeded to the defendant’s home in an effort to interview her for her side of the story.

Investigators arrived and found the defendant at her house. After explaining to her the purpose of their visit, the defendant was then placed in police custody and later transported to the TPS for an interview.

After informing her of her constitutional rights, the defendant decided to remain silent and refused to make a statement to investigators.

The defendant made her initial appearance in District Court last week.

She is charged with one count of abuse of a child, a class D felony, punishable by imprisonment of up to 5 years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

The government claims that the defendant purposely or knowingly caused injury to her daughter using unreasonable force, which created a substantial risk of harm or death to the victim.

Bail is set at $5,000.

During the defendant’s initial appearance, she waived her rights to a preliminary examination and her case was bound over to the High Court for arraignment last week.

Pretrial conference is scheduled for July 30 after the defendant entered a not guilty plea to the single charge against her.