Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The 30-year-old man from Samoa who has two different names in the court system, was ordered by the court to depart the territory and remain outside of its borders upon release from the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF), after being convicted of 2nd-degree assault.

Lave Faasega, also known as Ualesi Faasega appeared before the Court two weeks ago for sentencing. He has been in custody since his arrest in 2020, unable to post a $20,000 surety bond.

Faasega was initially charged with first-degree assault, a felony, and two misdemeanor charges, third-degree assault and public peace disturbance. But under a plea agreement with the government, the defendant pled guilty to second-degree assault.

With his guilty plea, Faasega admits that on or about Oct. 30, 2020 he caused severe injury to his neighbor by striking his head and back with a metal pipe. Faasega told the court it was his temper that caused him to injure his neighbor.

Faasega apologized for his actions to the court, the government and the people of American Samoa for breaking the law, and humbly begged the court for another chance to straighten out his life.

He blamed the devil for his getting upset quickly and resorting to violence.

“I want to go home to care for my wife and children. I’m truly remorseful for what I did, it was not me who stirred up everything, it was the devil who was living inside me who tempted me to act violent when I’m angry,” Faasega told the court.

He admitted to the court that he has an anger problem and he needs to control it. The only way he knows to control his anger is to go to church every Sunday and leave his old life behind.

His attorney asked the court to sentence his client to a probated sentence, with a condition that the defendant leave the territory upon release from prison.

Faasega’s attorney told the court that every time he spoke to Faasega about the incident that landed him in court, he always told him that he’s truly remorseful for what he did, and he wanted to change his life.

Before delivering its decision, the court stated that Faasega was convicted of 2nd-degree assault. The facts of the case include using a metal pipe to cause severe injury to a man, who is his neighbor.

However, according to the court database, Faasega was convicted by the District Court of 3rd-degree assault in 2013. In that case, 9 years ago, the defendant went after his brother-in-law with a hammer, while his brother-in-law was holding his 2-year-old child.

According to the court, after seeing her father’s action on that day in 2013, the defendant’s 10-year-old daughter intervened and tried to stop her father from hurting her uncle. However, Faasega then assaulted her by slapping her in the face, causing her to fall down.

The court then sentenced Faasega in his current case to 5 years imprisonment, execution of the imprisonment term was suspended, and the defendant was placed on probation for 5 years under certain conditions.

He was ordered to serve a period of detention of 20 months at TCF without release. All but 12 months of that detention was stayed, and the defendant was ordered to depart the territory and remain outside of its jurisdiction for the period of probation.