Man arrested after assault of 6-year-old reported

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On November 28, 2023, a female individual reported her nephew for assaulting her 6-year-old daughter.

The suspect was arrested and charged with the following:

Count 1: Assault in the Third Degree, a class A misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to one (1) year, a fine of $1,000, or both; and,

Count 2: Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a class A misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to one (1) year, a fine of $1,000, or both.

(Samoa News notes that no bail accompanied the affidavit.)

According to the affidavit, on November 28, 2023, a woman contacted the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) to report that her nephew (her sister’s son) had hit her 6-year-old daughter near Lions Park. Police officers were dispatched to pick up the mother and her two kids at Lions Park. The mother of the victim and her two daughters were transported to the TPS for further investigation.

During the interview with the mother, she verbally stated that her nephew struck her 6-year-old daughter with a strand of rubber twice in the left arm and the left shoulder in her presence near the Lions Park. She also stated that she confronted the suspect and told him not to hit her kids, and in response he told her to pack their stuff and leave their house.

The police requested that they examine the victim’s injuries, but no injuries were visible. Officers asked if the mother wanted to contact the EMS for medical treatment but the mother refused and said she knows her 6-year-old daughter is okay. The officers then contacted the Social Services to make an assessment on the mother and her two daughters.

The affidavit stated that the Social Services representative arrived later and made an assessment on the mother and her two daughters. They were later released to live with her sister in Iliili.

The police then proceeded to locate the suspect at his residence at Tafuna. Upon arrival, the police met with an unknown female individual and asked for the suspect, who later approached the police unit. Police officers informed him of his involvement in assaulting a minor and apprehended the suspect. He was placed inside the police unit and transported to the TPS for further investigation.

At the TPS, the suspect was escorted inside where he was Mirandized. Suspect agreed to be questions and to make a verbal statement.

According to the suspect’s verbal statement, “he struck his cousin because she lied about his sister’s 1-year-old child almost getting hit by a car.”

He explained that he didn’t like the fact that the victim was lying to his sister so he struck her with a strand of rubber so she would learn her lesson. He also said that his aunt (the victim’s mother) refuses to discipline her kids when they have done something wrong.

The suspect was booked and later transported and confined at the Tafuna Correctional Facility (TFC) to await the next available sitting of the District Court.

Both suspect and victim are identified as citizens of Samoa.

(To protect the identity of the minors involved, Samoa News has withheld the names of the parties involved.)