Man arrested after attempting to burn his wife alive

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man accused of pouring gasoline on his wife and threatening to burn her alive is now in custody after he was arrested by police last month.

The defendant made his initial appearance in District Court last month and he’s held at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF) without bail, due to the seriousness of the allegation against him.

The defendant is charged with one count of attempted murder in the second degree involving domestic violence and one count of attempted assault in the first degree with a dangerous instrument involving domestic violence, both class B felonies, punishable by a term of imprisonment of not less than five years not more than fifteen years.

Preliminary examination is scheduled for next week.

THE CASE

On June 28, 2021, a woman walked into the Fagaitua Police Substation (FPS) to report that on June 24th at about 1:30p.m, her husband allegedly poured gasoline on her and threatened to burn her.

The victim was interviewed by police at the FPS where she verbally stated that this was not the first time her husband had threatened to kill her, and that her husband had allegedly poured gasoline on her and threatened to burn her this time.

The victim didn’t know why her husband was mad at her but she didn’t say anything to him and walked straight to the shower because her eyes were burning.

The victim further stated to police that there was a witness, a female. Police contacted the female witness via telephone to ask about the victim’s accusations and the female witness told police that she saw the defendant walking towards the victim with the gas and heard him threaten to pour gas on her and burn her, but she didn’t actually see him pour gas on the victim.

The victim left their home in Aunu’u and moved back to her parents’ house in Utusia on the following morning, June 25th.