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Male aiga bus passenger accused of inappropriate touching

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ausage@samoanews.com

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Martin Agafili, 31, made his initial appearance last week. Bail is set at $1,000 and pretrial conference is Nov. 18th. He is charged with third degree assault and public peace disturbance, both class A misdemeanors.

Agafili was arrested after a woman who was riding the bus with him called police, claiming that Agafili touched her in a sexual manner.

According to the government, on Tuesday, Oct.15th, the victim told police that she was on the bus from Vaitogi, heading to Nuuuli, when a man in his early 30s got on the bus and sat next to her.

She said she could see that the man was staring at her and he kept putting his leg next to hers, so they were touching. And every time she moved her leg, Agafili would deliberately move his leg too, just to make contact with hers.

The victim told police that Agafili’s upper body (left shoulder) was on her right arm and she felt trapped and at the same time scared. At some point, Agafili put his left hand between his legs for about ten seconds, before he put his hand on her leg and allegedly rubbed it for a few seconds.

The victim said she adjusted herself, moving close to the window and moving her right leg more towards the left; however, Agafili would move his leg closer. Agafili then allegedly tried to touch the victim’s stomach but the victim moved towards the window. The  victim claims that Agafili also grabbed her right hand and tried to kiss it but she yanked her hand away from him.

That’s when the victim said she stood up and moved to the front of the bus. Once she got to work, the victim said she called police, who arrested Agafili while en route to the Fagatogo Market on the bus.

Agafili refused to make a statement, when questioned by police, who noted that Agafili reeked of alcohol.