Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Yesterday morning, due to a technical problem, Chief Justice Michael Kruse dismissed the jury, on day three, in the trial of former Police Watch Commander Mosese Lomu at 10:00 a.m. There were not other details forthcoming.

The case will resume at 9a.m this morning for closing statements from both sides with final instructions to assist the jury in their deliberation.

Lomu is accused of trying to cover up the alleged escape of inmate Manu Lefatia on Aug. 12, 2018. The inmate is alleged to have been the shooter in a Leone shooting incident  during the alleged escape.

On Wednesday, after calling their witnesses to the stand, the government rested their case; while counsel for the defense, Assistant Public Defender Ryan Anderson informed the court that the defense didn’t have any witnesses to call, and they also rested.

SENIOR DPS OFFICERS CALLED AS GOV’T WITNESSES

The last two witnesses called on Wednesday by the government were the two senior police officers — Chief of Police, Foifua Foifua Jr and Capt. Lima Togia — who were among several police officers that responded to the call that a man was shot at his residence in Leone around 3 a.m on Aug. 12. They also took part interviewing witnesses, including Lomu, regarding the incident.

in his testimony, Foifua Jr confirmed the first two witnesses’ statements — Territorial Correctional Facility Officers Carter Soliai and Junior Kuka — to the jury earlier, that around 3:30 a.m he called Lomu’s cell phone and instructed him to check Lefatia’s cell to make sure the inmate was inside his cell and to call him back as quickly as possible.

Four minutes later, around 3:34 a.m, Foifua Jr. says he called Lomu again about the issue, however, Lomu told him that he was waiting for a report from his staff who were in the field at that time.

Foifua Jr. said he didn’t hear back from Lomu at all, instead he called Lomu around 4:45 a.m, telling him that he (Lomu) better be prepared because he (Foifua Jr) was on his way to the TCF, and the team of investigators would be there soon to investigate the matter.

It was also revealed during the trial that investigators interviewed Lomu twice. His first interview was conducted on the morning of the alleged incident, and the second was conducted two weeks after the incident.

In the first interview, Lomu, according to Foifua Jr. verbally stated to investigators that officers in his watch were trying to set him up and that all the allegations against him are false. Lomu agreed to make a formal written statement regarding the incident, but then fled the Tafuna Police Substation without informing anyone and without leaving a written statement.

On Aug. 22 around 9:42 a.m, Lomu was again interviewed again by investigators, Foifua Jr. said. At that time, Lomu stated that he instructed Koonwaiyou and Kuka to check for Lefatia after receiving a call from Chief Foifua. He also stated that he found Soliai sleeping in the visiting area, where he woke him up and instructed him to assist Kuka and Koonwaiyou.

Lomu told investigators that TCF officers Toloa Koonwaiyou and Kuka came to the front office and briefed him about the situation. They informed him that when they checked Lefatia’s cell, Lefatia was inside watching a laptop with his headphones on.

Of interest, Lomu also, according to Foifua Jr., told the investigators that on Tuesday, Aug. 14, he went to the residences of Koonwaiyou and Soliai to talk to each of them about the incident, and that he recorded their conversations without their knowledge.

[Samoa News should point out however that there has been no recording of these conversations presented so far during the trial.]

Several inmates were also interviewed during the course of the police investigation, with one of them, Lafaele Sefo, who used to reside with Lefatia at the Aute Sports Bar, saying that Lefatia was there the entire time. He further told police that even when he was sleeping, he knew Lefatia was still there. The others basically told police they were sleeping or didn’t see Lefatia, or knew nothing about the incident.