Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On August 29, 2024, a female individual walked into Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) to file a report alleging Melania Vaivao had assaulted her at a bingo game.

The defendant was later charged with:

Count 1: Assault in the Third Degree, a class A misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of $1,000, or both; and,

Count 2: Public Peace Disturbance, a class B misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to 30 days, a fine of up to $500, or both.

The defendant’s bail was set at $1,000.

According to the affidavit, on August 29th, at about 12:02 a.m., a female individual (victim) walked into the TPS and filed a report against Melania Vaivao, who allegedly assaulted her at a bingo game.

The victim, Ann Pouvale and her husband were both interviewed by police officers at the TPS.

According to the victim, she was at the bingo when suddenly, the defendant passed in front of her and her husband, and rudely asked her why she was looking at her, and then swore at them.

The victim said she told the defendant “to use her brain because people playing bingo were listening.”

At that point, the victim claimed Vaivao walked towards her and punched her in the face, and she also ripped her gold necklace from her neck.

She added that “luckily”, her husband, an off duty police officer, jumped in and stopped the defendant.

The victim’s husband (witness #1) was also interviewed and confirmed what his wife had told officers, including that the defendant walked towards the victim and punched her in the face.

He explained that he jumped in together with other people, who were playing bingo, and stopped the defendant.

Another witness was also interviewed. Witness #2, who is also an off-duty officer, said he was playing bingo that night when a woman came to play bingo and walked towards where the bingo games were bought. He said while walking, the woman looked over at the victim “sitting next to me and said, “O le a?” [What?] And the victim responded, “E keke mai e a ou fela?” [Why are you staring at me?]

He said that at first he thought they were joking around, “then all of a sudden you see this lady approaching [the victim] and punching her in the face and grabbing her shirt.”

Witness #2 says that’s when he jumped “in the middle to separate them.” While trying to separate the women, he further claimed that he got punched on the right side of his chin.

“Then other bingo players and workers jumped in to separate them.” He added that the women kept shouting at each other back and forth.

He said that everything happened so fast that he didn’t hear any profanities, but only heard name calling. He continued that the victim then sat back at her seat while the defendant was pulled back towards the back side of the tent.

Moreover, when everything calmed down, the owner of the bingo told them that they shouldn’t fight and they should leave if they didn’t stop.

The victim’s husband then stood up and apologized to everyone for what happened “and the other lady was shouting again.” The witness explained that he told the victim’s husband to keep his wife calm and “have her stay put to prevent the situation from escalating.”

Then the bingo game continued, according to witness #2.

Melania Vaivao was Mirandized and agreed to provide a statement regarding the matter.

According to the defendant, she had an argument with the victim and her husband before, and when she went to bingo and saw the couple there, she got into a verbal altercation with the victim, walking to the victim and punching her in the face.

No injuries were observed on the victim’s face, but she had pain in her neck. Her golden chain cost $400.

The defendant is identified as a 36-year-old citizen of Samoa.