Man assaults pregnant wife during argument, ‘ice’ use suspected

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — On March 20, 2025, a pregnant woman walked into the Leone Police Substation (LPS) to report that her husband allegedly assaulted her in front of her kids. The husband the following day, walked into the LPS, alleging he was assaulted by his wife’s uncle when he went to get his kids.

The husband was later arrested and charged with:

Count 1: Private Peace Disturbance (DV), a class C misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to fifteen days, a fine of $300, or both imprisonment and fine; and,

Count 2: Assault in the Third Degree (DV), a class A misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of $1,000, or both.

The defendant’s bail was set at $5,000.

(Samoa News has withheld the names of those involved to protect the identities of the minors involved.)

According to the court affidavit, on Mar. 20th, at around 8:00 p.m., a woman (later identified as the victim) walked into the LPS and reported that she had a verbal altercation with her husband (later identified as the suspect), and that he had allegedly assaulted her by punching her several times in the face and on her body which caused bruises and scratches all over body. The victim also stated that she is four months pregnant.

On Mar. 21st, at about 8:54 p.m., the suspect walked into the LPS and reported that his wife’s uncle allegedly punched him a couple of times when he went to his wife’s house to get his kids.

On the same day, at around 9:07 p.m., the victim/ wife went back to the LPS and met up with the officers where she stated that the reason why her uncle got mad was because of the incident that occurred on Mar. 20th, when she got into an argument with her husband (suspect).

She claimed that “they were going back and forth, and when the suspect couldn’t handle her he threatened to beat her up and then assaulted her.”

Furthermore, she stated that he stood up and walked towards her and slapped her in her face. She tried to fight back to protect herself because she’s four months pregnant. However, the suspect got mad and threw hard punches multiple times at her face and on her head causing bruises on her arms and on her face.

When things settled down, she left the house with her kids to calm down. Later, the suspect picked her and her kids up and when he was about to drop them off, they got into an argument again, and the suspect punched her hard twice in the face in front of their kids and left a bruise on her left eye.

The victim also stated that she’s scared because she’s four months pregnant and this is not the first time her husband has assaulted her. She said she can’t recall the exact dates and time but the suspect always hit her and threatened to kill her whenever they argued.

She also claimed that recently she found drugs (meth) and pipes around the house and she believes that is why the suspect acts the way he does. Every little argument they have he is always threatening to kill and beat her up many times.

The defendant was arrested, and Mirandized to which he understood and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

During the booking process, the suspect stated that he knew his wife was four months pregnant but she touched him first and that’s why he beat her up.

The defendant was transported to the Tafuna Correctional Facility to await the next available sitting of the District Court.

The defendant is identified as a 32-year-old U.S National.