Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On July 22, 2025, a woman in Ofu, Manu’a contacted the authorities in Ofu regarding an alleged assault with a hammer on her husband.

The suspect was later apprehended and charged with:

Count 1: Assault in the First Degree, a class A felony punishable by a term of life imprisonment, or a term of years not less than 10 years and not exceeding 30 years; and,

Count 2: Private Peace Disturbance, a class C misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to fifteen days, a fine of $300, or both imprisonment and fine.

The defendant was held without bail.

According to the court affidavit, on July 22nd, at about 6:30 p.m., a woman (reporter) contacted an officer and requested police assistance regarding an alleged assault.

The reporter alleged that her husband (victim) was assaulted by Roy Taeotui (suspect).

An officer was dispatched along with some of the Department of Health officials to serve the call. Upon arrival at the scene, the responding officer met with the reporter and the victim who was observed with injuries to his face and head, with blood covering his face. The reporter told the officer that she had chased the suspect to go home.

A witness was interviewed and provided a formal statement. According to the witness, he stated that they had a get together after the victim finished wiring his house. Before he left his house, the suspect and victim were talking.

However, when he returned to his house, he heard the victim calling his name. He then went to the back of his house where he saw the suspect, Roy Taeotui, sitting on top of the victim who was lying on the ground. The suspect had a hammer in his hand.

The witness explained that he ran and took the hammer away from the suspect’s hand and pushed him off the victim. He helped the victim up and called out to his children to come and get him.

The victim was also interviewed and he stated that he had just finished his job for his neighbor’s house. They had a get together with the home owner and the suspect where they argued about tools. The victim claimed that after their argument, he got up and went to use the restroom and while he was urinating he was hit in the head and blacked out where he fell onto the ground.

The victim continued that the suspect hit him with a hammer numerous times. He tried to stop the suspect from hitting him with the hammer because his face was covered with blood. He then called out to the home owner who came and took the hammer away and pushed the suspect off of him and took him home.

The reporter was informed to transport her husband to Ofu Health Clinic for medical assistance where the attending physician conducted a thorough assessment on the victim.

According to the medical report, the victim received a blunt force on the left side of his skull. It also stated that the victim had 2-3 inches of an open wound, 3-6mm deep, with a v-shape laceration and active bleeding. There was bruising on the wound, swelling on the victim’s lip, and roughly 3 cm laceration on the left side of his face. The victim required a head x-ray and a possible CT scan.

On July 23rd, the responding officer went to find the suspect at his residence but was unable to find him. However, on July 25th, during his second attempt to locate the suspect, he finally met with the suspect.

The officers recognized the suspect from the neighborhood where he was apprehended and taken into police custody for further investigation.

Upon arrival at the Ofu station, the suspect was Mirandized which he understood and was willing to provide a written statement.

According to the suspect, after their job at the home owner’s residence, he went home. The homeowner and the victim then called him to come and drink with them. When he got to the homeowner’s home he had a conversation with the victim about tools and they got into an argument.

The victim then got up and walked to the back of the residence. The suspect claimed that he had a feeling that the victim was getting something to hit him because of how fast he was walking.

Therefore, he got up and picked up a hammer and rushed towards the victim and punched him. The suspect explained that the victim fell to the ground and he hit him with the hammer. The homeowner then came and separated him from the victim.

The suspect was booked and released to await a court appearance.

The victim was transported to Pago Pago on July 24, 2025 for further medical assessment.

The defendant is identified as a 43-year-old U.S National.