Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A 35-year-old mother of four accused of abusing one of her young children before she turned around and allegedly assaulted the woman who reported the child abuse incident to police last year — is now in custody after she was arrested last month.

According to the government’s case, the child abuse incident allegedly happened on Jan. 29, 2021 while the assault on the woman happened on Feb. 15, 2021.

(Samoa News has chosen to not identify the mother of the 12-year-old child due to the age of child, as per our usual protocol.)

The mother was served with a copy of the arrest warrant when she turned up at the District Court on a personal matter and was immediately brought into the courtroom for a speedy hearing. Her case was then continued until the next morning.

The next morning, the defendant made her initial appearance where the government’s attorney informed the court that they had filed two separate cases against her.

In the first case, the mother is charged with one count of child abuse and one count of 2nd-degree assault, both class D felonies, punishable by imprisonment of up to 5 years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both; along with one count of endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

In the second case, the defendant is charged with one count of 2nd-degree assault, a class D felony, punishable by imprisonment of up to 5 years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both; along with one count of trespass, a class A misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

Bail is set at $20,000.

During her initial appearance the mother chose to exercise her rights to a preliminary examination (PX).

CHILD ABUSE CASE

On Jan. 29, 2021, the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) received a call from a woman asking for assistance regarding an 11-year-old being assaulted and abused by his biological mother, who is her neighbor.

Several police officers responded to the call and interviewed the woman who reported the case, before they went to interview the mother of the 11-year-old.

The woman told police that the 11-year-old boy and his family lived across the street from her house. On the morning of the day in question she heard the young boy screaming for help while his mother (defendant) was beating him up.

Later on that day around 3:00p.m, the woman saw scratches and swellings on the young boy’s body. She immediately contacted police to report the incident.

Police were able to pick up the mother for questioning regarding the incident. During the interview, investigators informed the mother that she was not under arrest and she could leave any time she wants.

The mother admitted to investigators that she beat her son because she was very upset with him for disobeying her instructions. She had instructed her son (victim) to stay at the house to look after the younger children while she went to do her chores. However when she returned home, her children were all outside of the house while her son (victim) was at their neighbor’s house.

The mother told police that she used a tree branch to beat up her son causing swellings and scratches on his body.

ASSAULT CASE AGAINST THE WOMAN

The government claims that on Feb. 15, the TPS received a call from a woman in Malaeimi asking for police assistance after she was allegedly assaulted by another woman. The woman who allegedly assaulted the victim was later identified as the mother of the 11-year-old boy that the woman (the victim) had reported for child abuse.

Several police officers responded to the call and met up with the victim at her house. When officers arrived at the victim’s house, they witnessed the victim sitting inside her house shaking and crying. Officers also observed that the victim’s face was swollen and had scratches.

The victim told officers that she was assaulted by the defendant. Officers tried to locate the defendant on that day but were unsuccessful.

According to the victim’s statement to officers, she was working at her garden located at the back side of her house and she was alarmed when she heard her dog barking. She turned around and saw the defendant standing at the back of her house, calling out to her to come over so that they could discuss a personal matter.

The two women talked for few minutes before the defendant suddenly assaulted her by pulling her hair and punching her in the face multiple times.

As the victim was trying her best to push the defendant away from her, the defendant grabbed the victim’s head and smashed it on the ground multiple times before she choked her, at the same she was asking her about why she reported the incident about her child to the police.

The government stated that while the defendant was assaulting the victim, the victim was calling out for help. The defendant also told the victim, “You see what I’m going to do to you if you call the police again.”

PX

The government’s only witness during the PX three weeks ago was the lead investigator in this matter. In her testimony, the lead investigator said that the alleged assault on the victim occurred after she reported the child abuse case to authorities.

The government witness stated that the defendant entered the victim’s compound uninvited and allegedly assaulted the victim while the victim was standing at the back of her house on her own land. The witness further stated that during the alleged assault, the defendant choked the victim for about 5 minutes while the victim was screaming for help.

During the cross examination, the defense attorney asked the witness to explain to the court the main reason why his client allegedly assaulted the victim. The witness stated that during the course of her investigation, it was clear that the defendant was mad when the victim called police and informed them about the incident where she (defendant) assaulted her son using a tree branch.

The defense attorney asked the witness if she knew that the victim is her client’s husband’s cousin. The witness replied, no, she did not know that the defendant and the victim are related.

The witness further stated that the victim’s house and land where the alleged assault took place is not a public area where anybody including the defendant can access. The land and the house belong to the victim and her family only.

After hearing all evidence of the case, the court found probable cause to bind the mother’s (defendant) case over to High Court for arraignment.

Immediately after the court bound the defendant’s case over to High Court, the defense attorney asked the court to reduce his client’s bail to $10,000, however, it was denied by the court. The court said that bail is reasonable and the defense can take up their argument for a bail reduction before the High Court.

The defendant appeared in High Court two weeks ago where she entered a not guilty plea to all the charges.

Pretrial conference is Apr. 16.