Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A fight between a married couple has landed them in prison, where they both face charges of assault involving domestic violence.

The wife is charged with abusing her 3-year-old child, while the husband is charged for assaulting his wife.

The wife faces one count of abuse of a child, a class D felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both. Her bail is set at $5,000.

The husband is charged with 3rd- degree assault, a class A misdemeanor. He was released on his own recognizance awaiting a pretrial conference scheduled for next month.

The wife is still in custody unable to post bond. Her preliminary hearing is set for next week.

(Samoa News has chosen not to name the parents in order to protect the privacy of the child.)

THE CASE

On the evening of June 3, 2022, around 5:07p.m, a woman contacted the TPS requesting police assistance in order to remove her belongings from her husband’s place in Tafuna and she also requested for their 3-year-old child to be returned to her.

The woman who called police for assistance was later identified as the defendant in his matter.

Several police officers responded to the call and met up with the defendant and her 3-year-old child and she briefed officers about what happened. While officers were interviewing the defendant, another officer approached the child and asked the child what had happened. The child did not speak a word to the officers.

Officers noticed that the child had a minor bruise on the left arm and a noticeable bump on the right side of the head. Officers tried one more time questioning the child who only answered “yes” when asked if her mother beat her.

The defendant and her 3-year-old child were taken to the TPS for further investigation.

At the TPS, investigators contacted EMS for medical assistance for the 3-year-old and EMS personnel examined the child. The child was found to be okay and there were no critical conditions pertaining to the injuries the child sustained.

EMS personnel asked the mother if she wanted to take her child to the hospital for further treatment, but she refused and stated that her child is okay and she can take care of her child when they go home.

The woman was treated by EMS and according to EMS, her vitals were normal and she refused to seek further treatment at the hospital.

For the alleged child abuse, the woman was Mirandized and she said she understood and wanted to make a statement about what happened.

She told investigators that she beat her 3-year-old child because she tried to get the child to come so she could change her diaper but the child wouldn’t listen. She then slapped her child from the back and hit the child’s butt with a stick two times.

The child ran to the woman’s husband crying and the husband jumped in and asked her why she was so aggressive with the kids. The woman told her husband that she is teaching her a lesson and her child didn’t listen to what she told the child to do.

They got into a verbal argument and started swearing at each other where her husband grabbed her by the neck and choked her on the bed. The defendant tried to remove her husband’s hand from her neck but her husband was too strong.

The 3-year-old child ran into the room crying after seeing them fighting. The woman told her husband to get off of her and to stop choking her. The  husband got off from  her and told her to stop abusing their kids.

That is when the woman told her husband to never come close to the kids anymore and she is going to leave the house with the kids. The husband stopped her from going outside and told her to leave the kids while she went, but the woman told her husband that she’s taking the kids with her.

The husband’s mother came to the house and saw what was happening, and the woman told her mother-in-law to  get out of her way and she left the house with her 3-year-old child. On the same evening, officers proceeded to the couple’s residence to locate the husband and found him in residence. He was taken to the TPS for questioning.

The husband was Mirandized and he said he understood his rights and wanted to talk to investigators about the matter.

According to the husband, he got off from work and met with his kids that were playing outside of the house.

He went to eat and then heard his wife calling their 3-year-old child to come change his diaper, but the child wouldn’t come. His wife then went to get the child and that’s when he saw his wife slapping the child twice on the back and hitting his butt with a broomstick.

The husband said that his child ran to him crying and he hugged him. However, his wife came and slapped the child’s mouth and swore at the child for not listening.

The husband then got up and told his wife to stop abusing their kids. That is when the couple got into a verbal argument. The wife went inside their room while the husband followed her inside and asked her why she’s treating their kids like that.

The wife yelled at her husband and told him that he doesn’t have any right to tell her how to treat the kids, the kids aren’t his. The husband got angry and told his wife to watch what she’s saying.

The couple continued to argue and later the wife attempted to hit her 3-year-old child with a bottle of water that she was holding. The husband stated that he hugged and grabbed his wife trying to hold her hands down and his wife moved around trying to get him off and they both fell on the bed.

The husband told investigators that his wife started punching him in the face and on his back, and he pushed her on the bed and held her down. The husband then saw his child come inside the room so he got off his wife.

That is when his wife grabbed the child and tried to take him away from her husband. According to the husband, he only pushed his wife on the chest just to stop her from grabbing the child, however, the wife kept punching him on his side and that’s when he pushed her on the bed and held her shoulders down.

The husband’s mother also met up with investigators at the TPS and told investigators that she saw her son’s wife slapping and hitting her grandchild from the outside the house.

That’s when she told her son’s wife to leave her grandchild alone and let the child come to her. Instead, her son’s wife grabbed the child and took him inside the house. The grandmother (husband’s mother) then went to their house and told her son’s wife to stop beating up the kids, but her son’s wife told her that she doesn’t have anything to do with the kids, they’re not her kids.

The mother went back inside the house to calm her son (wife’s husband) and told him to let her be. That is when the wife got out of the house with her 3-year-old child and told her husband, “See what I am going to do to you someday.” The wife then left the house with the child.

Both the wife and her husband were booked and confined to the TCF, awaiting the next sitting of the Court.

Investigators observed minor scratches on the wife’s chest, but no injury, redness, or bruising to her neck. Investigators also observed minor scratches on the husband and a swollen area on the side of his face.