Ads by Google Ads by Google

Siaumau sentenced for 2019 escape

Court Report logo

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Thomas Siaumau, who is serving a 30-year sentence at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) after he was convicted of firing gun shots at a police unit while an officer was behind the wheel was sentenced by the High Court this week to a term of probation of 5 years, after being convicted of escape from confinement.

Siaumau, one of the five inmates charged and convicted of escape on the early morning of Oct. 19, 2019 appeared before Associate Justice Fiti Sunia this week for sentencing. He was represented by Assistant Public Defender, Ryan Anderson while prosecuting the case was Assistant Attorney General Kristine Soule’.

Siaumau pled guilty to the single charge of escape from confinement, a class D felony. He admitted that on the early morning of Oct. 19th, he, along with four other inmates escaped from TCF.

Both parties requested a probated sentence, which was granted the by the court.

Sunia sentenced Siaumau to a term of imprisonment of 5 years. Execution of detention was suspended and the defendant was placed on probation for 5 years subject to several conditions. His probation sentence will run consecutively with the sentence he’s currently serving at TCF.

Co-defendant, Gabriel Tinai also appeared before Sunia for sentencing after being convicted of escape from confinement. However, his sentencing is now postponed to Dec. 2nd. The court wanted more information regarding the defendant’s current period of detention and how many more years are left before he is released.

The other three co-defendants, Falaniko Fetoa’i, Pati Lepou and Elliott Siaumau Jr have already been sentenced for the same offense of escape.