Court Report

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The Fagatogo Police Station, also known as the Central Police Station, was contacted on October 20, 2023 at 1 PM when a woman came into work with multiple injuries on her facial area and upper body. Officers responding to the call at the workplace of the victim, were told by the victim that she got her injuries from her husband. 

The victim said that the first incident happened on October 12, 2023 at their residence in Fagasa, when her husband started asking her with whom she was having an affair. She said she reassured her husband that she was not having an affair, but the defendant then allegedly grabbed her, ripped her shirt off and made her sit in a chair. 

After doing so, the defendant allegedly grabbed a hammer to coerce her into revealing the identity of the man with whom she was having the alleged affair. The victim stated she reached to grab the hammer away from the defendant, but he grabbed a kitchen knife and threatened to stab her with it if she didn’t admit to the affair.  

The victim reported that she succeeded in taking the knife away from him, but then he allegedly struck her in the face several times, and placed his right foot on her neck to choke her, until she admitted that she was having an affair.

Victim says she fought to remove his foot from her neck, and when she succeeded, she ran away. She said her husband degraded her and called her a “whore”. 

Officers were notified by the victim that this was not the first or the second time she has been assaulted like this and that she was afraid to contact the police the first time. The victim was transported to the LBJ Hospital for a check up, while officers made their way to the defendant’s workplace in Futiga to apprehend him. 

Upon arrival at the Fagatogo station, the defendant was Mirandized and willingly answered questions and provided a statement, which was not disclosed in the court filings. The defendant was booked and confined at the Tafuna Correctional Facility for 48 hours. 

The defendant was arraigned, but the victim reported that he was harassing and threatening her for pressing charges.

Charges filed against the defendant were assault in the first degree, assault in the second degree and two charges of misdemeanor of assault in the third degree. All classified as domestic violence crimes. 

Bail for the defendant, identified as Lima Talosia, was set at $20,000.

STEALING CHARGES FILED

On October 22, 2023 at 9:41 AM, an investigation conducted by the Department of Public Safety, discovered that defendants Kelly Mulipola and Salaevalu Pula, allegedly used another person’s credit card to purchase multiple items that totaled to $600. Mulipola allegedly used the credit card knowing that it belonged to someone else. In the police’s investigation, they also discovered that $400 was removed from the victim’s bag.

On October 22, at 10:10 AM, the victim contacted the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) regarding the two suspects who she claimed had stolen her property and told officers of their whereabouts. When officers responded to the call, they observed that the victim was in the process of confronting Mulipola and Pula about her money that they are alleged to have used. 

Both suspects were transported to the TPS for further investigation. According to the victim in a verbal and written statement, her bag was stolen from Ierusalema Fou’s hall in Pekesa [sic] on October 20, 2023. The victim naturally assumed that she misplaced it in one of her containers for the Moso’oi Festival preparation. 

On Saturday, the next day at 7 PM, the victim says she received a missed call from her bank, notifying her of unauthorized transactions on her card. The victim says that she saw transactions at Jimmy’s Mart in Pekesa, so she went and sought help at the store, reviewing footage and pictures of two individuals using her card at the time reflected on her bank app on her phone. 

The victim says that she then decided to post it on social media in hopes of identifying the two individuals. It was successful as that’s where she found out from some of her Facebook friends that the defendants were staying at an abandoned house in Pekesa. 

The victim says that she decided to go to the abandoned house where she located the suspects, and confirmed that they were the same individuals that were on the footage and that’s when she decided to contact the police for assistance.

After speaking with the victim, officers then Mirandized both Mulipola and Pula and both cooperated with the police.

According to Mulipola’s statement, on Friday evening, a male named Toni that he barely knew, came to his residence and gave him a card and white Apple watch, and said that it was his aunty’s card and that he could use it. 

The suspect also said that the next day, he and his girlfriend Pula, went to Jimmy’s Mart in Pekesa and purchased a lot of groceries. He also stated that they purchased speakers, a single stove, earphones and food. Mulipola also admitted that the two other transactions were made by his girlfriend. 

Mulipola further admitted that he knew it was someone else’s credit card, but he and his girlfriend kept using it, until the victim approached them at their “residence”. 

Statements from Pula stated that a male individual that she did not know well came to their “residence” and gave them a credit card, and they took it, knowing that it belonged to someone else. Pula said that she “hesitated to do the right thing” and instead used it with her boyfriend at different stores. 

Pula admitted that she also went to Happy Mart, TSM and Jimmy’s Mart. The victim's credit card and Apple watch were recovered and returned to her.

After interviewing both suspects on October 22, 2023, both were booked for a 48 hour confinement at the TCF. 

Both Mulipola and Pula were charged with one count of stealing, and each received a $1,000.00 bail.

MAN ACCUSED OF IMPREGNATING HIS NIECE

A 32-year-old man has been charged with one count of incest for allegedly having sex with his niece and getting her pregnant. The government alleges that the defendant had sexual intercourse with his niece between April and July this year. 

The relationship allegedly started with a Facebook messenger conversation in 2022, and led to sexual encounters between the man and his niece at the defendant’s home. Court filings say when the girl started vomiting and stopped eating her mother took her to the hospital for a check up.

A pregnancy test was positive. There were two other pregnancy tests as the mother was in denial and shocked, and wanted to make sure the first result was accurate. Both tests also came out positive. The victim then told her mother that she was raped by the defendant, her uncle. 

When the mother confronted the defendant he didn’t deny his niece’s statements and suggested that he could pay for his and the victim’s fares to go off island for an abortion.

Bail for the defendant was set at $2,000.