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Man arrested for assaulting co-worker and robbing him

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ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Faavae Asuni was arrested by police last week after he allegedly assaulted a co-employee during their lunch break.

Asuni made his initial appearance in court last week.

He is charged with one count of 2nd degree assault and one count of stealing, both felonies.

Bail is set at $10,000.

If he posts bond, Asuni is ordered not to make any contact with the victim nor any government witnesses who are mentioned in the court affidavit.

According to the government’s case, Asuni and the victim are both employees of a construction company in Tafuna. One week prior to the alleged assault, a fight broke up between Asuni and the victim during a drinking session at the company compound where the victim struck Asuni with a 5-foot long 2x4.

Both the victim and Asuni were suspended for one week until Monday, Nov. 14th, after which date both the victim and Asuni returned back to work.

Several eyewitnesses who are also co-employees told investigators that the victim was in the back of pickup during lunch time when they saw Asuni approach the victim and the two men talked.

All of a sudden, Asuni punched the victim in the face causing the victim to fall down and hit his head hard on the cement. Asuni walked to the driver’s side, opened the door and grabbed something inside the victim’s vehicle and walked away.

Other co-employees rushed to the scene to help the victim before calling police for assistance.

EMS personnel, along with police arrived at the scene and the victim was transported to the hospital for treatment. Asuni was nowhere to be found. On the following day, investigators were able to interview the victim, where he stated that not only did Asuni assault him, but the defendant also stole his wallet containing $245 cash from inside his vehicle.

The victim told investigators that Asuni approached him and asked him if they could discuss the previous incident, which resulted in both of them being suspended.

He agreed to talk and he immediately apologized to Asuni for what happened and he promised that he will never do such a thing again.

The victim told investigators that while he was speaking, he could tell from Asuni’s face that he was really mad. The victim stated that he was shocked when Asuni punched him in his chin causing him to fall down hard on the cement ground, and hitting his head on the side of a cement block.

The next day, he noticed that his wallet was gone. Other co-employees told him that they saw Asuni take something from inside his vehicle.

Asuni was apprehended at his home and later transported to the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) for questioning.

He told investigators that the reason why he punched the victim was to pay him back what he did to him the previous week where he struck his head with a 2x4.