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Father arrested after allegedly assaulting his wife in front of kids

American Samoa District Court building
ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man accused of assaulting his wife appeared in District Court two weeks ago. He is charged with third degree assault and private peace disturbance.

The government alleges that around 6:30 p.m on a Saturday night in Iliili, a woman called police regarding her sister, who was allegedly being assaulted by her husband.

According to the victim’s sister, she was at home when she heard her sister screaming for help. She said she rushed over and saw her sister’s husband (defendant) choking his wife (victim) with one hand, while holding a short object to his wife’s throat in his other hand.

The defendant ran out of the house, when he heard his wife’s sister yelling at him, but not before he allegedly told his wife he would kill her and her family when he returned home.

When interviewed by police, the victim said her husband cussed at her and accused her of using him to feed her family, and of having an affair with a man who lives next door.

The victim told police that as she was trying to calm her husband down, he started throwing punches at her in front of their kids. She said she pushed him away but he grabbed a long screwdriver from his tool box and put it to her throat while choking her with his other hand. For her safety, the victim requested police detain her husband because he threatened to assault her again when he came home.

Aside from the alleged beating, the wife told police that she suspects her husband is doing drugs. She said she had also discovered a glass pipe commonly used to smoke ice and a marijuana roach inside her husband’s bag. When she confronted him about the glass pipe, her husband lied to her, saying that he used the glass pipe to smoke his cigarettes.

Two weeks later, the defendant was apprehended by police at his friend’s home in Leone and taken into custody. At his initial appearance, he was remanded to custody until he could post a $1,000 bond, subject to the condition that he is not to make any direct or indirect contact with his wife.

Pretrial conference is next month.