District Court Judge Elvis P. Patea has told a government prosecutor to do his investigation and to file the right charges if there are any.
He was speaking to Assistant Attorney General Jason Mitchell as he dismissed without prejudice the government’s case against Savelio Vaimoe yesterday morning.
Samoa News reports that according to Judge Patea, there is no doubt that a crime was committed, but the facts do not support the charges of first degree assault and second degree attempted murder.
The sole government witness Detective Vasa Wells told the court the incident happened January 21, 2019 when she received a call that people had brought a man who claimed to have killed a man.
She told the court when she interviewed the victim, Matamatafua Semaia, told her that he was awoken by “someone trying to kill him, by slicing his neck.”
She said Semaia told her that he didn’t know who tried to kill him, he could only “assume”.
The testimony also revealed that the incident may have been prompted by FEMA assistance for cyclone Gita damage which the accused believes should have been shared with him as he had done repairs to the house.
Judge Patea, after hearing the witness dismissed the case without prejudice and released Vaimoe from custody.
