Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man accused of sexually abusing his two nieces and was later kicked out of the house by the victims’ mother is now in custody after he was arrested last month.

The man appeared in District Court last month for his initial appearance.

He is charged with two counts of 1st- degree sexual abuse, a class D felony, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

Bail is set at $15,000.

After the defendant waived his rights to a preliminary examination, he appeared in High Court yesterday morning for his arraignment where he entered a not guilty plea to both charges against him.

His pretrial conference is set for December and the defendant is remanded back to the custody of the government until he posts bond.

THE ALLEGATION

The government claims that on the morning of Sept. 27, 2022, a woman called 911 concerning her two daughters (13 and 16 years old) who were allegedly sexually abused by this man, Mauava Tauali’i on Sept. 26 at their residence.

Several officers responded to the call and met up with the woman who reported the alleged abuse. After a brief discussion, officers transported the two victims along with their mother to the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) for further investigation.

The two victims were interviewed separately in the presence of their mother.

According to the 16-year-old victim, her uncle inappropriately touched her on her chest while she was asleep. Waking up, she said she slapped her uncle’s hands away from her chest and told him to get out of her room.

He just smiled and said goodbye and walked away. The 16-year-old victim said she remembered her little sister (13-year-old victim) was sleeping in the living room, so she went to check up on her.

When she asked her little sister if she was okay, her little sister told her that she’s scared because her uncle touched her on her chest while she was sleeping.

Investigators also interviewed the 13-year-old victim in the presence of her mother. According to the 13-year-old victim, she woke up when she felt her bed moving. She opened her eyes and saw her uncle standing beside her while touching her chest.

The victim stated that she was very scared because of her uncle’s behavior. After touching her chest, her uncle walked to the kitchen and opened the back door. He then turned back and walked to her bed and touched her chest again.

According to the 13-year-old victim, she couldn’t move or do anything because she was so scared — she then called her mother’s name out loud and that’s when her uncle left her sight.

According to the victims’ mother’s statement, made during her interview by investigators, on the night of Sept. 26 at about 10 p.m, she was with her friends in front of the store not too far from her house, when her two daughters came up to her and told her they could not sleep because of their uncle’s behavior. The victims’ mother went back to the house with her daughters.

She stated that when she got home, she saw the defendant on his bed and she woke him up and told him to get out of her house immediately. She grabbed his belongings and threw them outside of her house. The defendant picked up his stuff and left.

Tauali’i was apprehended and taken into the TPS for an interview. He was Mirandized and said he wished to make a statement.

The defendant strongly denied the allegation that he touched his nieces inappropriately. He said he went to check on his nieces and to see how they were doing because their mother was not at home at the time.

The defendant further stated that while he was sleeping, he was shocked when the victims’ mother woke him up and yelled at him to get out of the house. He said he tried to explain to the victims’ mother his side of what happened but she didn’t want to accept any words from him.

So, he complied with her instructions. He stood up, picked up his stuff the victims’ mother threw on the floor and left the house peacefully. Again, the defendant strongly denied the allegation against him.

After the defendant was interviewed, he was transported to the TCF where he was booked and confined.