Girlfriend tells alleged abuser she does not want to be with someone who beats her

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A man accused of assaulting his girlfriend and chasing her with a machete was arrested and charged last month.

Manase Bryce made his initial appearance before District Court Judge Gwen Tauiliili-Langkilde last month.

He’s charged with one count of 2nd degree burglary and one count of felonious restraint (both involving domestic violence), both class C felonies, punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 7 years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both; along with one count of 2nd degree assault, a class D felony, and 2 counts of 3rd degree assault, both class A misdemeanors.

Bail is set at $20,000.

THE CASE

On Dec. 01, 2021 evening, two women walked into Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) to file a criminal complaint against the boyfriend of one of the women. Several police officers assisted the two and later interviewed them about the matter.

According to one of the women, it was on November 20, 2021 at an unknown time she and her boyfriend got into a verbal argument at the residence. As she tried to walk out of the room, her boyfriend grabbed her and pulled her back, slapping her on her left cheek with his right hand.

According to the victim’s statement, she then walked to her vehicle and grabbed some things and left the house but then she saw her boyfriend coming towards the car where he threw a glass ashtray towards her vehicle but it missed.

On the morning of Dec. 1st around 8a.m, the victim received a phone call from he boyfriend and she answered it; the boyfriend asked her if “this was what she wanted? And the victim told her boyfriend that she did not want to be with someone who beat her and she hung up the phone.

After the phone call between the victim and her boyfriend, the victim went to her vehicle and moved it to the back so that if her boyfriend came by, he would think that no one was at the house. The boyfriend contacted the victim two more times but she ignored his phone calls because she didn’t want to hear any more drama. However, on the 4th phone call she picked up the phone; and from the background she could hear her dogs barking, making her suspect he was right outside.

The victim told investigators that she had left the back door unlocked and her boyfriend unlawfully entered her residence and attempted to hit her with a machete but he stopped and grabbed the victim’s father’s machete and swung it towards the victim while asking her, “If this was what she wanted?”

The victim replied by saying that she did not want to be with someone who beat her and abused her.

According to the victim’s statement to investigators, the first time her boyfriend swung the machete it came into contact with a shelf/ wall in the laundry room of her residence. Once the machete missed the victim, the victim ran towards the living room in an effort to distance herself from her boyfriend.

However, her boyfriend followed her and swung the machete a second time causing it to hit the stair rails (wooden) and damage them. The victim’s boyfriend did not rest, he continued to chase after the victim around her house a few times until the victim ran out through the back door to her uncle’s residence that is around same the area.

Out of her fear for her life, the victim told investigators that she ran as quickly as she could to make sure her boyfriend couldn’t find her. The victim stated that she stayed at her uncle’s residence for at least 30 minutes and when she started to return home, her boyfriend was at the back of her uncle’s house.

The victim didn’t know what to do next because she wanted to go home but her boyfriend was still standing at the back of her uncle’s residence waiting for her to come outside. That’s when the victim finally contacted her father via phone and informed him about the matter and her boyfriend’s behavior. The victim’s father arrived soon and instructed her daughter’s boyfriend to leave — and  he did.

Further investigation regarding this incident revealed that there were past unreported incidents between the victim and her boyfriend. According to the victim’s statement to investigators, in the three years she and her boyfriend dated, he just started getting violent towards her around August 2021.

The victim recalled the first incident was around the beginning of August 2021 when her boyfriend and the victim got into an argument in a vehicle and it escalated to the point where the victim’s boyfriend grabbed a lug wrench and hit it against the dashboard of the vehicle causing it to bounce back and come into contact with the victim’s left eyebrow causing it to bleed and she was taken into the emergency room at the LBJ Medical Hospital in Faga’alu for medical care.

According to the victim’s statement to investigators, this incident left a permanent scar on her and she also provided a video of when the wound was still fresh after she was released from the hospital.

The victim further stated that within that same month they got into another argument and her boyfriend grabbed her by the throat although he did not squeeze it nor put any pressure on it, but it came to the point where she was afraid for her life during the incident. After that incident, the violence stopped until towards the end of September 2021 when it started up again, this time worse.

According to her statement, they would argue almost every week and throughout every argument, her boyfriend would physically hit her with his hands. The victim stated that most of their arguments would be inside her vehicle and most of the times she would ask her boyfriend to stop the vehicle so she could get out but he would always refuse and would continue to operate the vehicle.

After interviewing the victim, investigators had enough information to arrest the defendant.

On the same date, Dec. 1, 2021 around 5:55p.m, investigators went to the defendant’s residence and arrested him. He was brought into the TPS for questioning. The defendant was Mirandized and he stated that he understood and wanted to answer questions and provide a verbal statement.

According to the defendant’s statement to investigators, on Nov 30, 2021 at the airport inn he got into a verbal argument with his girlfriend because he was mad at her for always being on her phone all the time while he wanted to talk to her and spend time with her.

The defendant stated that he did not physically touch his girlfriend that day but they were just arguing and he yelled at her while she was sitting in front of him without saying a word. On Dec. 1, the defendant confirmed he went to her residence to try and talk things over with her. He stated that he wanted to make peace and forget about what happened.

According to the defendant, his girlfriend opened the back door for him to enter and he asked her if this is how it was going to be; the defendant stated that he did not touch a machete and that he only wanted to talk to his girlfriend in an effort to iron things out and start fresh, but his girlfriend ran towards her uncle’s house so he stayed at the house waiting for her return until her father came and told him to leave the area. He complied peacefully and left his girlfriend’s residence.

The defendant admitted that there were previous arguments between them in the vehicle and if his girlfriend asked him to pull over, he would not listen. He stated that whenever he would physically hit the victim it would only be on her arms or thighs and he only grabbed her by her shirt — and that he did not grab her neck.

On the same date, investigators took the victim to her residence where the incident occurred for further investigation. When investigators arrived at the victim’s residence they took photographs of were the machete came into contact with the stair railing and where the machete was placed.

Furthermore they discovered the defendant’s slippers in the victim’s father’s office, which placed him inside the residence. Investigators seized the slippers and the machete that was found in the residence.

The defendant was booked and confined at the Territorial Correctional Facility (TCF).