Man who assaulted his girl friend — again — gets 10 days at TCF

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man who was convicted by the District Court for assaulting his girlfriend has been ordered to spend 10 days at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) as a condition of a 12-month probation term.

The detention period will see the defendant spending 5 straight weekends at the TCF.

(To protect the identity of the victim, Samoa News is withholding the defendant's name).

The defendant is a 43-year-old fisherman from Samoa who lives in Tafuna with his girlfriend and two young children. Under a plea agreement with the government, he pled guilty to third degree assault, and the remaining charges were dismissed.

He is not new to the system. Back in 2013 he was convicted for PPD — also for assaulting his girlfriend.

During sentencing, the defendant apologized to the court and begged for another chance to return home.

According to him, he and his wife are still living together, despite what happened.

He told the court that ever since the incident in February of this year, he hasn't been drinking or hanging out with the crowd he usually did.

Conditions of his probation include not threatening or harming his girlfriend and children at any time, and he is to remain sober at all times.

He has to continue to work as a fisherman to provide for his family, and he must visit the Probation Office once a month.

The defendant’s conviction stems from an incident where he came home after work very intoxicated and got into an argument with his girlfriend over financial issues.

He ended up assaulting his girlfriend by pulling her hair and choking her while she was carrying their 2-year-old son.

A neighbor who heard the girlfriend and her son screaming for help called police for assistance, which resulted in the defendant being arrested and charged.