Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man was arrested and now being charged for assaulting a woman while holding a machete in his hand.

The defendant, Siaosi Laulu made his initial appearance in Court in February of this year.

Laulu is charged with two counts of 2nd-degree assault, both class D felonies, along with two class A misdemeanors charges of 3rd-degree assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Bail is set at $10,000.

THE CASE

On Feb. 21, 2022 a male individual contacted the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) to report that a man had assaulted his wife. Several police officers responded to the call and met up with the reporter along with the victim.

While speaking with them, officers observed a swelling on the right side of the victim’s eye. According to the husband, the suspect punched his wife 3 times on the right side of her face causing a swelling.

Officers also met up with the suspect and his 14-year-old son who were sitting in front of their residence.

All 4 individuals were transported to the TPS for further investigation.

According to the victim’s written statements, she stated that she was pulling weeds behind her husband’s grandparents’s house, which was abandoned

The suspect and his son were walking back downhill to where she was doing her chores, and according to the victim, there was a big space for him to walk however, the suspect walked over her. She then told the suspect, do you have any common sense, there’s a big space and way for you to walk and here you are stepping over me.

The suspect replied, no one has any right here on this land but him. After saying that, the suspect punched the victim 3 times with a fist to the right side of her facial area and while holding a machete in his left hand. The victim yelled and screamed, her husband (the reporter in this matter) ran towards her, pulled her away from the suspect and ran.

While running she saw her mother-in-law grabbing her kids and also running away. One is is a one-year-old and the other is 6 months old. While they were running away, the suspect was throwing big rocks and stones at them, while still holding the machete in his hand.

The suspect’s 14-year-old son was observed by the victim and her husband also helping his father (suspect) throw rocks at them almost hitting the victim’s mother-in-law and young children.

The victim’s husband was also interviewed by police. According to his statement, the suspect walked towards him with a machete, shovel and a large stone after he pulled his wife away. The suspect threw a large stone at his head, luckily he ducked, however, the suspect still came after him with the machete.

The suspect’s son kept throwing rocks at them — he, his wife, mother and his kids — while they were running away.

The mother-in-law was also interviewed by the cops. She stated that she heard her daughter-in-law screaming that she’s being beaten up and was running downhill from the site. She then observed her son, (victim’s husband) facing the suspect who was holding a stone in his hand. She then ran and grabbed her grandchildren and ran away with them.

The suspect was interviewed by investigators regarding the alleged incident.

According to his statement, he was with his son up the hill working on their plantation. He went downhill with his son to their residence to grab something, however a few minutes later, he heard someone swearing at his son saying this is not a walkway. He then overheard someone else saying grab some wood to block this portion of the land.

He and his son then walked downhill where the woman (victim) said, this is not your land, your land is only where your house is, according to the victim.

He then pushed the victim and told her that she has no right. It was then she yelled and called her husband while running away. The woman’s husband was yelling to call the police. It was then he told his son they should go home and wait for the police.

The suspect was later booked and transported to the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF).