Defendant held without bail in alleged domestic disturbance

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On December 3, 2025, a woman called the Faga'itua Police Substation (FPS) to report an alleged domestic dispute involving a couple.

The suspect was later apprehended and charged with:

Count 1: Private Peace Disturbance (DV), a class C misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to fifteen days, a fine of $300, or both imprisonment and fine;

Count 2: Assault in the Third Degree (As a Class C Misd.) (DV), a class C misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to fifteen days, a fine of $300, or both;

Count 3: Assault in the Third Degree, a class A misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a fine not to exceed $1,000, or both; and,

Count 4: Resisting Arrest, a class A misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a fine not to exceed $1,000, or both.

The defendant was held without bail.

(Samoa News has withheld the names of those involved to protect the identities of the victims and minors involved in the case.)

Filed on December 5, 2025, the court affidavit states that on the afternoon of Dec. 3rd, FPS received a call from a reporter in Masefau regarding an alleged disturbance at her neighbor's house. The reporter requested assistance to remove the suspect because the suspect had walked towards the victim's 16-year-old sister with a machete.

After receiving the call, the officers followed up with the reporter to see if the situation had changed or escalated. However, a different person (reporter #2) answered, sounding terrified.

Reporter #2 stated they needed immediate assistance and feared something might happen to the suspect's wife. Reporter #2 then identified the suspect.

Authorities rushed to the scene and upon arrival at the suspect's home, approached the front door, which the suspect answered. The officers asked the suspect to step outside, where he was interviewed, while the other officers interviewed reporters #1 and #2, and the suspect's wife (later identified as the victim).

All three stated that they wanted the suspect to be removed from the residence because they were frightened of the suspect's terrifying behavior.

After speaking to the reporters and the victim, the officers informed the suspect that he would be detained and removed from the residence. At this time, the suspect stepped back while holding his pocket tightly. Due to reasonable suspicion and for the officers' safety, they informed the suspect that he would need to be searched before entering the police unit.

However, the suspect began to panic frantically and resisted arrest. The officers were able to arrest the suspect, and upon searching him, the officers allegedly found a glass pipe with what appeared to methamphetamine residue.

After the search, the suspect was escorted to the police unit and asked the family members to go to the police station for further investigation.

At the FPS, the suspect was Mirandized but refused to make a statement.

The investigation later revealed that reporter #1 is the victim's sister who lives in the same house as the suspect. Reporter #1 told the officers that reporter #2, who is a minor and also the suspect's daughter, ran over to her, stating that the suspect forced the girls to pack their bags and move them to the suspect's brother's home. She also mentioned that the girls were afraid because the suspect was forcibly yelling at them while holding a machete.

Reporter #2 reported that when she arrived home from school, she saw the suspect yelling and cursing at her sister while he was holding a machete. The suspect also yelled at her and asked her if she had brought strangers inside the house. Both suspects also stated that "the suspect claimed that he saw people walking around the house with no heads and stealing stuff from their home.”

The officers also interviewed the victim, who stated that during this whole week, the suspect had been terrorizing them due to his paranoia of seeing people with no heads walking around their home.

The victim had an abrasion near her right eye, an injury inflicted by the suspect. The victim also sustained a significant bruise on her right knee in a different incident weeks ago, but it was not reported.

The victim explained that the suspect recklessly drove off in the car, causing her to fall out of the car and onto the ground after a verbal altercation. The victim and several female family members then requested a restraining order due to the suspect's sexual seduction and flirting behavior.

After gathering all the statements, the suspect was booked and escorted to the Tafuna Correctional Facility for confinement, to await his court appearance.

The defendant is identified as a 25-year-old citizen of Samoa.

[Editor’s Note: An affidavit is a written statement confirmed by oath or affirmation for use as evidence in court. It is not a court decision. Under local law, defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty by the court. ra]