Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A 39-year-old uncle accused of sexually abusing his 16-year-old niece at their home is now in custody after he was arrested last month pursuant to an arrest warrant from the court.

The defendant made his initial appearance in Court where his bail is set at $15,000.

He is charged with two counts of sodomy, a class B felony, punishable by imprisonment between 5-15 years; and two counts of first degree sexual abuse, a class D felony, punishable by up to 5 years in jail, a fine of up to $5,000 or both.

If the defendant is able to post bond, he is ordered to remain law abiding, not leave or attempt to leave the territory, and he is not to make any direct or indirect contact with the government’s witnesses, including the victim and her family.

The government claims that on the morning of Mar. 30, two females walked into the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) to report an alleged sexual abused case involving a 16-year-old girl and her uncle.

The two females were later identified as the victim and her aunt and they were interviewed by investigators regarding the alleged incident.

The victim told police that on the night of Mar. 28, 2022 around midnight while she was playing video games, her uncle knocked on her door and asked if he could charge his phone using the plug inside her room and she agreed.

Around 1a.m, she decided to go to sleep but she couldn’t because her uncle’s phone was charging inside her room. She called out to him about his phone but he didn’t answered. She then decided to leave the door to her room open so that her uncle could pick up his phone later.

It was while she was sleeping that she felt someone inappropriately touching her and that something heavy was on top of her. Waking up, she found it was her uncle laying on top of her and touching her inappropriately. She yelled at him to get out of her room.

However, before he left, he asked her if they could have sex but she yelled at him to get out of her room. Her uncle left and she locked her room.

The victim stated that she smelled a strong odor of alcohol from her uncle’s breath and clothes.

On the next morning when her aunt came home from work, she told her what happened and that’s when her aunt confronted the defendant about the allegation. The defendant apologized and promised that he would not do it again.

One week later according to the victim’s statement to investigators, the defendant did it again and that’s when the victim and her aunt reported the matter to authorities.

The second incident happened on Apr. 5, 2022, after she heard her aunt and uncle arguing about the prior incident and her uncle said he wouldn’t do it again. Her aunt then went to work and the defendant was watching TV in the living room, while she was in her room trying to sleep.

The victim told police that the defendant started calling her name, asking her to come hang out with him in the living room, but she didn’t respond; instead, she continued to lie in bed.

Falling asleep, the victim said she was surprised when she woke up and saw the defendant laying on her hand, and touching her inappropriately. The victim said she sat up and tried to push the defendant away and at the same time, she screamed; however, the defendant was too strong and didn’t stop.

The victim said she was finally able to push the defendant away and walked out of the room into the living room crying. The defendant allegedly followed the victim and tried to stop her from leaving the house. He tried to grab her hand and begged her to go back into the room because he didn’t want to go to jail.

The victim told police that she exited the house to go to the store at the front to look for her aunt, but the defendant followed her. The victim was able to locate her aunt, who was sitting outside of the store waiting for a bus to go to work and the victim told her what allegedly happened inside the house.

The victim said she asked her aunt why she had left her alone in the house with her husband, before telling her what happened.

The girl said that while she was talking to her aunt, the defendant arrived and tried to change the subject. The victim’s aunt confronted the defendant about what her niece had told her, and the defendant denied it all.

The victim also confronted the defendant about what he did to her and he continued to deny any wrongdoing.

The very next morning, the victim and her aunt went to police to file their complaint.

The victim also reported two alleged incidents that happened the week before, on the same day. The first one was when the defendant touched her inappropriately in the house and told her that he wanted to make love with her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. The second, was when the defendant came into her room while she sleeping and touched her inappropriately.

Police went looking for the defendant at work but he was not there.

Weeks passed before police were able to speak to the defendant, who was told to stop by the TPS to discuss the allegations against him.

When questioned by police, the defendant admitted to touching the girl inappropriately, but said that the victim asked him to come to her room when his wife left the house that night, and she did not scream when he touched her.