Ads by Google Ads by Google

Wife who says her husband assaulted her with a beer bottle has had enough

American Samoa District Court building
Begs cops to keep him away from their home
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man from Seetaga was arrested by police last week on the allegation that he assaulted his wife using a beer bottle while he was intoxicated. According to the victim’s statement to investigators, this is not the first time her husband assaulted her at their home and she doesn’t want him back at their house.

The defendant made his initial appearance in District Court this week. He is charged with second degree assault (involving domestic violence), a class D felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

Bail is set at $5,000.

THE ALLEGATION

It was on June 2, 2021, in the afternoon, when the Leone Police Substation (LPS) received a phone call from a woman requesting police assistance regarding a domestic violence matter at her residence. The woman who requested police assistance was later identified as the victim in this case.

Several police officers responded to the call and met up with the victim, who gave officers a brief summary of what happened during an interview. The victim verbally stated to officers that her husband (later identified as the defendant in this matter) was drinking alcoholic beverages at their house and all of a sudden threw an empty glass bottle of beer at her and hit her on the forehead.

Officers observed the victim’s injury and was asked if she needed medical assistance and she replied yes. The victim was later transported to the LPS for aid.

Officers went to the back of the house and observed the defendant drinking beer outside and informed him to come with them to the LPS to discuss the matter at hand regarding the domestic violence issue between him and his wife. The defendant was then apprehended and transported to the LPS for further investigation. A strong odor of alcohol was emitting from the defendant’s breath during booking process, according to officers.

The victim was interviewed by investigators at the LPS where she stated in her written statement what had led up to the incident — her husband was insistent that she go to the store and buy him more beer, which she eventually did. It was when she came back from the store and she was sitting in the back with him — at about 9 to 10 feet away from each other, when a glass bottle hit her on her forehead.

She stated that her head really hurt and it was bleeding. She also stated that her husband was also shouting at her profanely and ordering her to go back to the store to buy more beer for him before he did something more serious to her.

The victim told investigators that she was scared and feared for her life because this is not the first time this has happened to her in their home. She requested that her husband not come back to their house. The victim recalled another incident where her husband was intoxicated, he assaulted her by choking her and punched her in the face after she refused to go to the store to buy more beer for him.

The victim stated that every time her husband gets intoxicated, not only does he assault and abuse her but also threatens her by saying that if she reports him to the police, he will do something more severe to her and she will not see the sun again.

When questioned by investigators, the defendant refused to make a statement about what allegedly happened nor did he want to answer questions. He was later transported to the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) where he was booked and detained to await the next sitting of court.