One of three men wanted in connection with a brutal assault in Fagaima, early, last month is being held on bail of $15,000 on charges of second degree assault, a felony and a misdemeanor charge of third degree assault.
Thirty-six year old Palemia Salanoa and two other men, who are still at large, are accused of assaulting Filipo Viliamu on the night of April 6 in Fagaima.
According to court filings, the three allegedly assaulted the victim in front of a store and when he fell, one of them grabbed a brick and threw it at the victim’s head. Even after the victim was unconscious on the ground, the suspect who threw the brick at him continued to punch his neck.
Witnesses who saw the victim lying on the ground contacted the Tafuna police substation and he was rushed to the LBJ Hospital. The attending physician, Dr. Oliver, stated that the victim needed to be sent off island for treatment as his injuries were life threatening. The man was later airlifted to New Zealand.
The bits and pieces that the victim revealed, when police tried to interview him in the Intensive Care Unit, was that he was just hanging around the store when a group of men jumped him. He tried to escape but one of the men came from his right side with a brick and threw it at his head, and that was the last thing he remembered.
Police viewed video footage from a laundromat which showed what happened at the scene. The video showed the three men beating the victim and one of them throwing the brick at the victim’s head. The mother and sister of the male shown on the video throwing the brick, identified the suspect from the footage.
Police have yet to apprehend the other two suspects, who reportedly have been hiding out at a known drug spot, since the night of the incident.
