Drunken brawl by 3 inmates at TCF lands one in ICU — 2 charged

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — An alleged beating inside the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) last month has landed two inmates in court while the third inmate was transported to Intensive Care at the LBJ Hospital with wounds to his head and body.

The two inmates, Ryan Pite and Faafetai Lefatia III appeared in District Court last week for their initial appearances.

Each defendant is charged with one count of 2nd degree assault and one count of being armed with a dangerous weapon, both class D felonies, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

During their initial appearance, both defendants waived their rights to a preliminary examination and are scheduled to appear in High Court tomorrow for arraignment.

Both defendants are being held in custody without bail.

THE AFFIDAVIT

The case came to light when the Tafuna Police Station received a call from Captain Ta’afua of the TCF, requesting police assistance regarding a male inmate who was seriously assaulted inside the Bravo Unit of the TCF compound by two male inmates.

Police officers responded to the call and were able to meet up with several TCF guards who were working the night shift.

Officers were notified that the victim’s name is Auau Papalii, an inmate who was in custody on the charges that he allegedly stabbed another man in Malaeimi three months ago.

EMS personnel were notified when DPS officers arrived at TCF, and Papalii was transported to the LBJ Hospital for further treatment while they continued their investigation.

According to one witness who was interviewed by investigators, the victim was inside his holding cell sleeping when inmate Lefatia III came and woke him up.

Lefatia III invited the victim to Ryan Pite’s cell so that they could have lunch and discuss some issues regarding an event that happened two Sundays ago.

Lefatia III and the victim arrived at Pite’s cell and the victim noticed another inmate by the name of Lauolefiso Naea inside Pite’s holding cell

The four men — the victim, Lefatia III, Pite and Naea — then sat down and talked for about 5 minutes. During their conversation, the victim was shocked when Pite allegedly swung a piece of lumber at him, which he dodged.

The victim tried to stand up in an effort to walk outside of Pite’s cell, and it was at that time that Lefatia III punched him in the face causing him to fall back.

Lefatia III continued to assault the victim by punching him in the face .

Pite jumped in and assisted Lefatia assault the victim. Pite kicked the victim in the back and in the facial area while Lefatia III continued to punch the victim in the face and hit his head on the concrete floor. The victim was screaming for help but nobody came to rescue him.

At one point, Lefatia III and Pite stopped their actions and rested to catch their breath while the victim was still lying on the concrete floor with blood coming from his facial area and his head. A few moment later, Lefatia III and Pite continued with their assault on the victim while the third inmate, Naea was yelling profanity and making a ‘war cry’.

At one point, Pite allegedly kicked the victim in the facial area, which caused the victim to stop moving. It was then that the third inmate, Naea, told Lefatia III and Pite to stop what they were doing because it looked like the victim was dead.

Investigators requested Cpt. Taafua and Lt. Lafaele of the TCF to bring inmates Lefatia III and Pite to the front office for further investigation. Lt. Lafaele then informed investigators that it was not safe to bring the two inmates to the front officer for questioning due to the fact that both inmates were heavily intoxicated.

It was confirmed during the investigations that all three inmates, Lefatia III, Pite and Naea were under the influence of alcohol during the alleged beating of the victim, Papalii.

Investigators interviewed three TCF guards regarding the alleged beating who confirmed to investigators that Lefatia III, Pite and Naea were under the influence of alcohol inside the TCF during the alleged beating — but they had no idea how the three inmates got their alcohol.

Furthermore, TCF guards also told investigators that there was a video recorded by inmate Naea on Pite’s cellphone of the alleged assault. The cell phone was not recovered by investigators.

When asked by investigators regarding the alleged incident, inmate Naea told police that it was a plan by Lefatia III and Pite to assault the victim, because the victim assaulted their relative in Malaeimi.

The victim was transported to the LBJ for further treatment. Because of lack of available officers to stay with the victim at the LBJ, he was rescheduled to appear at the LBJ Dental Clinic the following day.

The victim was admitted to the LBJ Medical Ward after undergoing surgery that wired his jaw closed. The victim also suffered a big open cut at the back of his head and 9 stitches were needed to close the wound.

BACKGROUND

Pite is serving a 30-year sentence at the TCF after being convicted of various crimes including stealing, robbery, assault and escape from confinement.

In 2013 while serving his sentence, Pite was convicted of an assault charge after he assaulted another inmate with a metal pipe, following an argument inside Pite’s holding cell.

Lefatia III on the other hand has a pending case in High Court for unlawful possession of illegal drugs and weapons. Lefatia appeared before District Court Judge Elvis P. Patea last Friday for a Disposition Hearing for not being in compliance with the court’s order on his 12 months probation.

During his hearing last Friday, Judge Patea ordered Lefatia III to serve 90 days at the TCF for violating conditions of his probation from last year.