Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On December 25, 2024, a female individual called the Tafuna Police Station (TPS) and reported that a male allegedly threatened to cut off her head.

The suspect was arrested and charged with:

Count 1: Private Peace Disturbance (DV), a class C misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to fifteen days, a fine of $300, or both; and,

Count 2: Assault in the Third Degree (DV), a class A misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of $1,000, or both.

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

According to the court affidavit, on Dec. 25th, at about 6:06 p.m., Sekone Mano (later identified as the suspect) was causing a peace disturbance at his residence in Maleimi. The suspect was allegedly yelling profanities and threatened to chop off the victim’s head with a machete.

The suspect threatened the victim while aiming the machete at her. He also allegedly threw the machete and his beer can where the victim was standing.

The officers proceeded to the area and upon arrival, they observed the suspect cutting tree branches in front of his house with a machete. The officers pulled him aside and they confirmed that the suspect was intoxicated. He was then apprehended and was placed in the police unit to be transported to the TPS for further investigation.

The officers were also able to speak with the victim and conducted an interview. According to the victim, she called the suspect and asked if his wife could go to the store to buy soap but the suspect got mad and cussed at her.

She then decided to walk up towards the store and the suspect told her not to ask them to go and buy her anything again because his wife is not a servant. She walked back to the house but the suspect continued yelling at her and told her “don’t be cheeky before I come and chop off your head with the machete.” The victim claimed that the suspect said this to her while aiming the machete at her.

She walked inside the front patio of their house and the suspect threw the machete and a can of beer at her and she ran inside their house.

After interviewing the victim, the officers also spoke to a witness.

The witness stated in her verbal statement that she told her sister to ask the suspect if his wife could grab them some soap from the store. She explained that the suspect got mad to the point where he cussed at her sister (victim). The witness said that she was inside the house when she heard the suspect threaten to chop off the victim’s head with the machete. She came and looked out the door when she saw the suspect “about to throw the machete and a can of beer to where the victim was standing.” She then told the victim to call the police and report the suspect.

Upon arrival at the TPS, the suspect was Mirandized and opted to make a statement and to answer questions.

According to the suspect’s verbal statement, he had a few cans of beer while he cut down the bushes in front of his house. The victim called him and asked if his wife could grab them some soap from the store. The suspect admitted he got mad because what the victim was asking for didn’t make sense to him. He cussed at the victim for being disrespectful and for asking his wife to do their chores for them. Moreover, the suspect claimed that he remembered threatening the victim — to chop off her head — but didn’t recall the exact time he said it. He also stated that he grabbed a Samoan bag made with coconut leaves he uses for his trash along with the machete and threw it by the victim’s house.

The suspect was booked and transported to the Tafuna Correctional Facility to be confined awaiting the next available sitting of the District Court.

The defendant is identified as a 50-year-old citizen of Samoa.