Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On August 3rd, 2024, Fagatogo Police Station (FPS) received a call from the LBJ Hospital Emergency Room (ER) reporting an alleged assault case.

The defendant in this case was charged with Count 1: Assault in the Third Degree — a class A misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than one year, a fine of $1,000., or both.

The defendant’s bail was set at $500..

According to the affidavit, on August 3rd, at about 2:30 a.m., FPS received a call from the LBJ hospital ER reporting a male that was brought in from Aua, after being assaulted.

At about 2:45 a.m, police officers arrived at the hospital to investigate the matter. Upon arrival, the victim was observed asleep with a noticeable injury on his right eye. The victim’s brother who brought the victim to the hospital was present and was able to brief the officers regarding what allegedly happened to his brother.

According to the victim’s brother, he is not sure what happened but from what he gathered it was Stye Sione that punched his brother in the eye.

He stated that one of the victim’s friends came to their house and told him to come take the victim to the hospital because he was injured. He then went to the friend’s house and noticed that his brother (victim) was injured and he rushed him to the hospital to get treated. Pictures of the victim’s injuries were taken by the officers.

On August 4th, 2024 at about 11:00 a.m, police officers conducted a follow up investigation at the LBJ hospital and were able to interview the victim in the presence of his brother.

According to the victim, they were playing pool and drinking at a friend’s house. As they were finishing for the night, he told the Sione brothers (defendant and his brother) to make their way home and the brothers left. A few minutes later, he noticed the Sione brothers return. The victim said that one of the brothers walked past him and out of nowhere the defendant (Stye Sione) punched him in the eye using something, but he was not sure what it was.

On August 5th, at about 9:00 a.m., police officers went to locate the males that had been drinking and playing pool with the victim and the defendant. They were able to locate the scene of the crime but were not able to find the friend who owned the house. However, they spoke with the friend’s mother who mentioned that their neighbor was one of the males that was drinking and playing pool on the night of the alleged incident.

The officers approached the neighbors and spoke to the friend (later identified as a witness) who had been playing pool and drinking with the defendant and victim. According to the witness, it was true he was there when the incident occurred but he wasn’t sure what started the fight. All he remembered was that the victim fell down and he saw the defendant’s brother pulling the defendant away from the victim. He then ran towards them and tried to help separate the defendant from the victim.

The witness provided a list of people that had been playing pool and drinking with them — the defendant, the defendant’s brother, the victim and three other friends.

The officers then proceeded to contact one of the friends.

According to this friend, he left the place before the incident occurred with two other friends so he didn’t know what happened until he heard the village kids talk about it. The friend was then asked by the officers if he had noticed anything unusual between the victim and the defendant and the friend replied “no”. However, it was two other friends that were in a small argument regarding their pool game.

The officers proceeded to try and locate the defendant and his brother but were not successful.

On August 6th, at about 7:30 a.m., police officers proceeded again to the defendant’s home and met with his mother. According to the defendant’s mother, the defendant did not sleep at their house and the brother had already left for work. The defendant’s older brother informed the officers that he will look for Stye and that he will give them a call when he takes the defendant home. At around 11:30 a.m., police received a call from the Sione brothers’ mother stating that the defendant was at home now.

The officers spoke with Stye Sione at his home.

According to the defendant, he and the victim were very drunk that night. He stated that he was trying to escort his brother home but the victim kept bothering him and challenged him to a fight. He explained that they left the place but his brother decided to go back so he followed him. As they were approaching the place, the victim approached him and challenged him to a fight again. The defendant explained that he got mad and he punched the victim in the eye with an unopened can of beer causing the victim to fall down. The defendant said that his brother then came running towards him to separate him from the defendant and escorted him home.

On August 9, 2024, the victim’s mother stopped by the FPS and provided a medical report of the victim’s injuries. According to the medical report, the victim suffered a 2-3 mm upper lip laceration temporal to nasal punctum and the lower lid laceration involving the canaliculus. Both the upper lid and lower lid laceration were sutured.

The affidavit does not state when the defendant was apprehended and arrested. The defendant is identified as a 24-year-old U.S National.