Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A 39-year-old man was arrested by police last month for allegedly assaulting a female by pushing her down and choking her.

Maeli Maselusi spent three nights at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) before he made his initial appearance in District Court last month.

Maselusi is charged with one count of private peace disturbance and one count of 3rd degree assault, both class A misdemeanors, punishable by an imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

Bail was set at $300, however during his initial appearance hearing, the court decided to release Maselusi on his own recognizance subject to the usual conditions, with which he must comply.

Pretrial conference is May 10 at 8:30a.m.

The government alleges that that on Feb. 10, 2022 at approximately 8:46a.m, the TPS received a phone call from a male individual in the Tafuna area requesting police assistance regarding an incident where a man allegedly assaulted a woman. Several police officers responded to the call and met up with the reporter in this case.

Officers were briefed by the reporter regarding the incident, however, the suspect — later identified as Maeli Maselusi — had left the scene, whereupon other officers proceeded to locate the suspect at his house.

Officers interviewed the reporter and the victim regarding the incident.

According to the victim’s statement to officers, it was while she was cutting grass, picking up trash and cleaning their guest fale that she saw two kids at the guest fale and one was lying on the table. She approached them and scolded them and told them to go home. Minutes later, Maselusi drove by and picked up the kids and left.

However, the suspect turned back and parked his vehicle and approached the victim confronting her about scolding the kids who stay with him — telling her she had no right to scold them.

An argument started between the suspect and the victim and the suspect told the victim that if she wasn’t a female, he would beat her. The victim responded by saying ‘come and do it’.

That’s when they got into a scuffle, and the victim pulled the suspect’s shirt and the suspect allegedly pushed the victim causing her to fall on a chair. The suspect was standing on top of the victim choking her, asking her if she knew who he was and asking her who was she.

The victim grabbed the suspect’s t-shirt trying to get free. The kids who were with the suspect jumped in and pulled the suspect away and they left the scene.

That’s when the victim informed the village mayor about the incident and the mayor called TPS for police assistance.