A man charged with one count of abuse of an elderly or disabled adult involving a domestic violence act made his initial appearance in High Court today.
The defendant who we will not name to protect the identity of the victim as ths involves an alleged domestic violence matter is being held on bail of $10,000.
According to the government’s case, on November 7, a security guard at the American Samoa Community College called the Tafuna police station to report that a disabled female barged into the college security office requesting help with her dad whom she said had assaulted her.
The female victim told officers that she was doing something at their home when her niece interrupted her and she scolded her.
The niece woke up the victim’s father and told him what happened. This made the Dad upset and he allegedly threw a toy gun at the victim, hitting her eye.
According to the victim her niece interrupted her a second time and she scolded her again.
The niece again told the Dad who had gone back to sleep. This time the Dad chased after his daughter as she ran out of the house.
When she fell her Dad allegedly pulled her hair, dragged her on the ground and punched her.
A neighbor saw what happened and took the girl to the ASCC security office where police were called.
The defendant waived his rights to a preliminary examination in District Court last Thursday and his case was bound over to High Court.
This morning dring his arraignment he pled not guilty and his pre trial conference has been set for next month.
