Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man accused of sexually abusing a 8-year-old girl was arrested by police last week.

He made his initial appearance in District Court.

(Samoa News has withheld the names involved in the case to protect the victim in this case.)

He is charged with first degree sexual abuse, a class C felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to seven years, a fine of up to $5,000 or both; and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

Bail is set at $10,000 and preliminary examination (PX) is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, May 25th.

THE CASE

 The government claims that on May 20th, 2021, a man walked into the Fagatogo Police Headquarters to report that his nephew did something terrible to an eight year old female minor, by groping her inappropriately and pressing hard on her outer clothing.

Investigators contacted the victim and her mother about the situation and the mother and the victim agreed to come into Police Headquarters for further investigation. The victim was interviewed by investigators at the Police Headquarter in the presence of her mother.

According to the victim’s statement, she was waiting for her friends on the stairs next to her church. While waiting, the defendant walked up to her and she immediately ran away from him and told him that she was going to tell his aunt, but he said that he could care less if she tells on him.

She then told the another woman about what he had done to her and the woman told the victim’s mother what happened. The victim told investigators that the defendant walked up to her and grabbed her inappropriately from outside of her clothes.

The victim’s aunt was also questioned by investigators regarding this incident. She told investigators that she was at team practice in church when her niece told her that she wanted to talk to her. The niece told the victim’s aunt what had happened. The niece stated that the defendant had been calling out to her to come to him. The aunt told investigators that according to the information she received from her niece, and described the inappropriately touching.

The defendant was apprehended and interviewed by investigators regarding the matter. According to the defendant, he did not do anything to the little girl. That he was only eating sushi on the steps next to his house. His aunt had instructed him clean the yard at their house and that he only left to go to the store to get a snack. That’s when he saw the victim with other little girls walking past him.

He also stated that he then went up to the church and that’s when his aunt came to get him and brought him in. The defendant denies any wrongdoing and told investigators that he did not do anything to the victim.