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Courts hear numerous assault cases, one also involving drugs

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ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man who allegedly assaulted his 18-year-old nephew was arrested and charged. During his arrest, officers discovered drugs in his pocket.

Tavita Tuli made his initial appearance in Court last month.

He is charged with one count of unlawful possession of methamphetamine (meth), one count of abuse of a child, both felonies; along with one count of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of 3rd degree assault, both class A misdemeanors.

Bail is set at $10,000.

THE CASE

On the afternoon of Jan. 14, 2022, the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) received a call from a 18-year old male stating that he had been physically assaulted by his uncle Tavita Tuli, the defendant in this matter, at their residence in Vaitogi. The caller also told police that his uncle is on drugs.

Several police officers responded to the call and met with the young male who reported the matter.

Police arrived at the area and started to gather information about what actually happened. They also interviewed those involved in this matter, including the victim, his father and a neighbor.

According to the victim’s statement to police, his uncle (defendant), his father and the neighbor started yelling and swearing while tossing food and glass plates inside the kitchen after the uncle was unsatisfied with the food the victim’s father had made.

The victim said that his uncle (defendant) then approached him and started to verbally and physically assault him by punching him in his face with a fist and pushing him. The victim blocked some of the punches by using his hands to cover his face, but still got punched near his neck area.

The defendant then went into his room to grab a wooden baseball bat and verbally threatened to kill the victim using it. The victim ran outside the house and saw the defendant walking towards the public road stating that when he came back, he was going to kill the victim.

Police interviewed the neighbor about this matter where he stated that he had seen everything from outside and stated that the defendant physically assaulted his nephew (victim) and made unreasonable noises — and this has been an ongoing thing.

The neighbor told investigators that the defendant punched the victim in the face, pushed him and tried to choke him. The victim tried to push the defendant away in an effort to run away but the defendant continued to assault him by pushing him down and punching him in the face and back.

The victim had been asked several times by investigators if he needed some medical assistance but he refused further assistance. The investigators were told that the defendant had left the house a few minutes before they had arrived at the scene and was heading towards the public road.

Officers then proceed to locate the defendant, and when approaching the public road, they saw the defendant sitting at the bus-stop. The defendant was then placed in cuffs one hour after the incident and was transported to the TPS for further investigation.

He was patted down, prior to being taken to the TPS, and during the body search, officers discovered a glass pipe containing a white crystalline substance. The substance was later tested and yielded a positive result for meth.

The defendant was Mirandized and wished to make a statement.

According to the defendant’s verbal statement to investigators, he admits assaulting his nephew out of anger. When questioned about the glass pipe containing meth, the defendant admits that the glass pipe belongs to him and he bought it from a drug dealer who sell drugs on the street.

AMEKO LUAFA

A man accused of assaulting another man by striking his head with a metal object twice was arrested and is being charged.

Ameko Luafa made his initial appearance in Court last month.

He is charged with one count of 2nd-degree assault, a class D felony, punishable by imprisonment for up to five years, a $5,000, or both such fine and imprisonment.

Bail is set at $5,000.

THE CASE

On Jan. 22, 2022 at about 10:24p.m, a man contacted Fagatogo Headquarters to report a man who had assaulted him using a dangerous instrument.

Several police officers responded to the call and were able to meet up with the reporter/ victim in this case. Officers arrived and observed the victim sitting outside his house. The victim was bleeding from his head.

When questioned by officers, the victim stated that the incident was the result of two females (the defendant’s cousin, and his wife) discussing his familial relationship — the defendant’s wife apparently told the other female that he (victim) looks like a person that is not related to them.

Later on he came outside of the store and smoked a cigarette, when all of a sudden the female who had spoken with the defendant’s wife came up to him and said, “You act like shit but you don’t belong here”.

The victim started to argue with the female and when he (victim) turned his back he was blindsided by the defendant.

The government alleges that the defendant punched the victim and struck him two times on the head with a metal construction tool.

The victim was later escorted inside a police unit and transported to the Leone Police Substation to be treated by the EMS and for further investigation. Officers were unable to locate the defendant at this time.

Police officers obtained footage from the store video surveillance system, which confirmed that the victim was struck from behind by the defendant two times using a metal object before he punched and kicked him.

LEATI MOSI

A 30-year-old man was arrested by police last month for allegedly assaulting a female by pushing her down and choking her.

Leati Mosi spend three nights at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) before he made his initial appearance in District Court.

Mosi is charged with one count of private peace disturbance and one count of 3rd degree assault, both class A misdemeanors, punishable by a imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

Bail was set at $300, however during his initial appearance hearing, the court decided to release Mosi on his own recognizance subject to several conditions that he must comply with, such as being law abiding, no direct or indirect contact with the victim in this case, making all of his court appearances and staying in close contact with his attorney at all times.

Pretrial conference is Apr. 10 at 8:30a.m.

The government alleges that that on Jan. 20, 2022 at approximately 8:46a.m, the Fagatogo Central Police Station received a phone call from the mayor of Pago Pago requesting police assistance regarding an incident where a man allegedly assaulted a woman. Several police officers responded to the call and were able to meet up with the reporter in this case.

Officers were briefed by the reporter regarding the incident, however, the suspect who was later identified as Leati Mosi had left the scene, after which, other officers proceeded to locate the suspect at his house.

Officers interviewed the reporter and the victim regarding the incident.

According to the victim’s statement to officers, she was doing yard work and and cleaning their guest fale on the road side in Pago Pago, when she saw two kids at the guest fale and one was lying on the table. She approached them and scolded them and told them to go home. Minutes later, Mosi drove by and picked up the kids and left.

However, the suspect’s vehicle turned back and he parked his vehicle and approached the victim confronting her about scolding the kids who stay with him telling her she had no right to scold them.

An argument started between the suspect and the victim and the suspect told the victim that if she wasn’t a female, he would beat her. The victim retaliated saying come and do it. They got into a scuffle, and the victim pulled the suspect’s shirt and that’s when the suspect allegedly pushed the victim and she fell on a chair. The suspect was standing on top of the victim choking her, asking her if she knew who he was and asking her — who was she.

The victim grabbed the suspect’s t-shirt trying to get free from being smothered. The kids who were with the suspect jumped in and pulled the suspect away and they left the scene. That’s when the victim informed the village mayor about the incident and the mayor called the police for assistance.