Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A teacher at Tafuna Elementary is being charged with three separate counts of endangering the welfare of a child when he hit three minor children with a wooden stick in the buttocks area, allegedly causing bruises on the area.

The charge is a class A misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of $1,000, or both.

On October 18, 2023, the incident was reported to the Tafuna Police Substation when one of the mother’s of the children, Sili Siua, along with her 11-year old son walked in, wanting to press charges against her son’s teacher for assaulting her son with a wooden stick.

According to the 11-year-old, on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023, during school hours, his teacher, Asomalu Lavasi’i, “got mad at him and his classmates for making too much noise while he was talking to the vice principal.” It was after the VP left the room that Lavasi’i called them up one by one, and “started hitting them one time on the butt areas with a wooden stick.”

The affidavit states that the 11-year-old “got a bruise on his left butt cheek, and his mother stated that her son is scared to go back to school” because of what Lavasi’i did to him and his classmates.

Police went to the Tafuna Elementary on Oct. 19, 2023 and conducted a follow up investigation, where they were able to speak to a few students and conducted a field interview with the teacher.

“Accordion to the two [children] that were interviewed by police, they also got bruises on their butts from the incident” and they both “stated that it’s not something new to them,” as Lavasi’i, their teacher “has been hitting them with his wooden stick if ever [they] make noises or did something wrong in class.” They further reported that he swears at them using foul language, and that “most of the kids in his class fear him and were afraid to go back to school.”

Mr. Lavasi’i was interviewed inside the school’s office. The affidavit states that he “confessed everything by verbally stating that what he did was wrong, but he let his anger get in the way of doing his job as a teacher, which he was supposed to teach them, but not hitting them [sic].”

“He also stated that when he hits the kids, in his mind [it] is to discipline the kids but instead he may have hit them too hard, which causes bruises on the their butt, and he is truly sorry for it.”

The three minor victims in the affidavit are identified as 11-year old children.

Lavasi’i is a US national, and is 25 years old.

The affidavit of support of the complaint does not state that Lavasi’i was arrested, but that he was to appear at the next sitting of the District Court in American Samoa on Nov. 3, 2023.

It is unknown at this time, if the charges of alleged child endangerment still stand, as the matter is not open to the public due to the victims being minors.