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Co-defendant in the alleged Nuuuli church assault is ordered to depart the territory

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He is an overstayer who entered on a 30-day permit last year
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — One of the defendants in the case involving seven members of the Nuuuli Church of Christ — including senior preachers — who were arrested last month on the allegation that they assaulted a couple, has been ordered by the court to depart the territory immediately.

Kalepo Tineiafi, an overstayer who entered American Samoa on a 30-day permit last year appeared before District Court Judge Elvis P. Patea yesterday morning for a Change of Plea hearing.

Tineiafi has been in custody since his arrest last month, held without bond due to his illegal immigration status. He was initially charged with one count of public peace disturbance and one count of third degree property damage, both class A misdemeanors, punishable by imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to $1,000 or both.

Under a plea agreement with the government, Tineiafi pled guilty to public peace disturbance. The remaining charge was dismissed.

With his guilty plea, Tineiafi admits that on the night of Sept 15th, he  engaged in fighting, and tumultuous and threatening behavior, by making unreasonable noise in front of the Nu’uuli Church of Christ and used abusive language, which disturbed the public peace.

Tineiafi further admits that on the day in question, he, along with his co-defendants displayed threatening behavior towards one of the victims (a female), and caused damage to her vehicle.

When asked to provide facts of the case, Prosecutor Jason Mitchell told the court that while the female victim was sitting in front of the church with another church member, she heard people yelling and shouting, and someone pounding on her truck which was parked in front of the church, not far from where she was sitting.

The victim said she turned around and saw Tineiafi pounding her truck. She called out to Tineiafi and asked him to step away from her vehicle, but Tineiafi continued to damage her vehicle. That’s when three females (co-defendants) came towards her and assaulted her.

The government recommended to the court to place Tineiafi on probation for 24 months, under a special condition that he immediately depart the territory and remain outside of its borders for the duration of probation. Judge Patea agreed.

The court was presented a copy of Tineiafi’s return plane ticket to Samoa.

Tineiafi was sentenced to one year imprisonment. Execution of sentence is suspended and he is placed on probation for 24 months subject to several conditions. He is to remain law abiding and immediately depart the territory and remain outside of its border for the duration of probation.

He was also ordered  to serve 44 days at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF), which is how long he’s already been in custody.

Patea ordered that Tineiafi will only be released to Probation, and they were to transport him to the Pago Pago International Airport yesterday afternoon, for departure to Apia.

Patea reminded Tineiafi, “If you enter the territory again within the period of your probation, the court will order you to serve the remaining period of your sentence and upon release, you will be ordered to immediately depart the territory again.”

Patea also ordered that a signed copy of the court’s judgement be served to the Chief Immigration Officer (CIO) to ensure that Tineiafi’s name is included on “lookout list”.

UPDATE ON CO-DEFENDANTS

The cases against the remaining six co-defendants are continued until next month. The defense made a motion to continue, to await discovery from the government.

The six co-defendants are: Viliamu Ioane; Tautua and his wife Taua Suapusi; Luao Soli Jr; Neru Soli; Minute Soli; and Leua Vili, a.k.a Julie.

Co-defendant Taua Suapusi, who was held in custody without bail due to her illegal immigration status, was released to the custody of Immigration, after the court was told that Suapusi’s sponsor has already filed to renew her immigration ID.

During their first pretrial conferences in court last week, Judge Patea reminded the group to maintain the peace within the church and the village at all times.

BACKGROUND

The case stems from an alleged incident whereby a group of men assaulted a man inside the church, while a group of women assaulted his wife outside of the church.

(The victims are a married couple).

It all allegedly started from a meeting between the male victim, Soli Jr, and another senior member of the church, to discuss Soli Jr’s letter to the church’s headquarters, asking for a vehicle to help carry out his work within the church. The meeting was held in the absence of the congregation.

The result of the meeting didn’t sit well with Soli Jr., who allegedly went to the church and lied to his family about being assaulted by the male victim.

A copy of Soli Jr’s letter was leaked to Samoa News.