Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On October 14, 2024, a female individual (victim) contacted the Tafuna Police Substation reporting that she was hiding with her child in the room because her husband was allegedly causing a disturbance at their residence.

The suspect was captured and charged with:

Count 1: Assault in the Third Degree ( As a C. Misd.) (DV), a class C misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to fifteen days, a fine of $300 but not less than $150, or both; and,

Count 2: Private Peace Disturbance (DV), a class B misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to six months, a fine of $500, or both.

The defendant’s bail was set at $5,000.

(Samoa News has withheld the names of those involved to protect the identities of the victim and minor in this case.)

According to the affidavit, on October 14th, at about 11:00 a.m., a male individual (suspect) was causing a peace disturbance in his wife’s (victim) rented place.

During the altercation, the suspect messed up the house by throwing items around the living room and allegedly attempted to strike his wife with a small plastic chair. The victim feeling frightened due to the suspect’s aggressive behavior, locked herself and her 6-year-old (with special needs) daughter inside the room. While the victim and her daughter were inside the room, the suspect tried to pry the door open with a kitchen knife and kicked the door resulting in damages to the door of their bedroom. He also threatened that once she left the room he would choke her.

Further investigation revealed that the matter has been an ongoing situation within the household and some of the incidents were never reported.

Police officers were dispatched to the scene and upon arrival, the suspect had already fled the scene while the victim was still in the room with her two kids.

The victim was interviewed at the scene where she explained what had happened while she cried. The victim also requested for the officers to talk with her inside her bedroom because she did not feel comfortable seeing the mess the suspect had made in the house.

According to the victim’s verbal statement, she came out of the room and the suspect was sleeping in the living room. She claimed that once the suspect woke up, she talked to him about whether he was smoking weed again lately because this is how he acted, aggressive and angry every time he smoked weed. The suspect got angry and he started arguing with her.

The victim explained that she walked away and locked her and her 6-year-old in the bedroom. Furthermore, she came out of the room again to dump her daughter’s dirty diaper and the suspect was asleep. She said that the noise from dumping the trash woke the suspect up, and he started to kick and move the furniture around.

Moreover, the victim stated that she told the suspect several times to stop moving and throwing things around the house but he continued to do so which led to the altercation escalating again. While arguing back and forth about it, the suspect grabbed a small chair and attempted to strike her. She ducked and looked up as the suspect was still holding the chair in the air.

The victim continued that she had a chance to escape and she ran inside the room and locked the door again while calling the police station for help.

She stated that while on the phone with police, the suspect was throwing things outside the room and trying to break his way into the room. He then threatened to strike her with the chair when the room door opened up. She said the suspect tried to pry the door open with the kitchen knife and also kicked the door.

Not long after police arrived the suspect fled the scene. The victim also admitted that this has been an ongoing matter and she is always concerned about her kids’ presence whenever the matter occurs.

Police officers interviewed the victim’s eldest daughter, a 15-year-old who witnessed the incident.

According to the witness’s verbal statement, she was inside her room when she heard her mother and the suspect arguing because the suspect was [allegedly] on drugs. The witness also stated that she heard the suspect cursing at her mom in Samoan. Furthermore, she stated that when the altercation escalated she heard her mother walking into the room with her little sister.

The argument died down for like 20 minutes, then she heard the suspect making loud noises in the living room. Her mother then came out to tell the suspect to stop but he continued to yell aggressively at her mom. The witness then said she heard her mother telling the suspect that she was about to call the police and then went back inside the room.

She said she heard her mother talking to someone on the phone while the suspect was trying to pry open the door with his tools. She could also hear the suspect failing to pry the door open and then continued to yell out profanities in Samoan at the victim.

The witness admitted she did not see what happened; however, she could hear everything from inside her bedroom. She also said that before the suspect left, she could hear him throwing things around the house.

While interviewing the victim and witness, the suspect was found hiding inside an unfinished concrete house behind the victim’s residence. He was apprehended and he was transported to the TPS for further investigation.

At the TPS, the suspect was Mirandized and he agreed to make a statement.

According to the suspect’s verbal statement, the altercation started when he was about to leave for the store to buy water. He opened the door and it knocked down the electric fan that was behind the door. He claimed that the victim got mad at him for that reason and they got into an argument. The argument escalated and he threw everything that was on the table to the ground. The suspect also admitted to prying the door with a kitchen knife to get in the room but was unsuccessful. He said he then kicked the door once and left a hole in the door.

The suspect refused to give a written statement.

The suspect was transported to the Tafuna Correctional Facility to be confined to await the next available sitting of the District Court.

The defendant is identified as a 49-year-old citizen of Samoa.