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First tlme: Teacher charged under local child abuse law

For delivering ‘sasa’ to student for disobedience
joyetter@samoanews.com

A teacher at Pago Pago Elementary School has been arrested and charged with several criminal charges in connection with the assault of one of his students.

Tony Leatualevao is charged with first-degree assault, child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child. According to the Attorney General’s office this is the first individual who has been charged with the child abuse law since it was passed into law back in 2014.

The defendant made his initial appearance in the court this week and his bail was set at $5,000.

According to the government’s case, on November 3, 2016 the victim — the student and his mother — filed an official complaint with the police that the defendant assaulted his student during school hours.

The police report says that the 11-year-old student got into a fight with several seventh graders after school on November 2, 2016. The next day as the first bell rang, the defendant called over to his desk his student — the 11-year-old — where he questioned him about the alleged fight the day before and “scolded him for not heeding his advice about not fighting.”

The student told the police that his teacher ordered him to stand in front of the class and then the teacher struck his buttocks with a wooden paddle, the court filings say. The student further stated that Leatulevao struck him five times on his buttocks. The student explained that the pain was almost unbearable and that he could barely sit down during class time.

He did not tell any of the teachers or adult staff members about what happened to him,” the court filings say.

The student further said that his teacher uses the same paddle to discipline other students in his class who are “ulavale or naughty.” The victim’s mother told the police that she went to the school the same day and met with Leatulevao, who admitted that he did “sasa” or spank her son for not obeying him and for fighting in school.

The mother further said that Leatulevao was not aware of the severity of her son’s injuries.

“When she (mother) saw how badly bruised his buttocks were she immediately sought police assistance not only for her son but because her husband threatened that he was going straight to the school first thing in the morning when he gets off from work,” court filings said.

The assault and child abuse charges are both class D felonies and each are punishable up to five years in jail while the endangering count is a class A misdemeanor that carries up to one year in jail and or a fine of up to $1,000.