By Staff Writer
The death of a man from serious wounds, allegedly when deliberately struck by a truck, is a growing worry for the police at the high level of lawlessness around the area where it occurred at Nu’u.
The truck struck the deceased last week on Monday as he was walking along the side of the road and was dragged into a nearby family chain-link fence.
Police spokesman Auapaau Logoitino Filipo confirmed that the body was recovered from the steel fence and the driver of the truck arrested.
“ He is charged with murder and will appear for mention in court this week,” Auapaau disclosed.
Police has learned that a group of men were having drinks after work and there was misunderstanding.
The party broke up and four of the men including the deceased left.
The male who hosted the drinking session at his home was reportedly angry and he jumped into the family truck and gave chase.
“Somehow the other three escaped except for the victim who was struck down and dragged by the truck,” Auapaau added.
The deceased and the truck driver are co-workers at a large hardware company at Vaitele-tai, along the main coastal road to the Faleolo International Airport.
The violence is not new to this rapidly growing residential stretch from Faleula-uta, Vaitele-uta, Nu’u, and Falelauniu up to Tafaigata.
The fatal road incident last week occurred at the same spot where the police were also called in to a stone fight between the youth last April.
The youth were from separate residential village settlements.
Around the road corner in the same residential block, a young girl was killed and her family home set on fire by a young male relative.
Further up around the Faleula-uta area is where the body of a woman was found inside an abandoned house was found several years back.
Her death still remains an unsolved police investigation.
The week before last, police raided a home around the same vicinity at Faleula-uta and confiscated an arsenal of unlawful high-powered rifles, handguns and drug items for illegal use.
The male who was arrested is known to the police from two other previous arrests for illegal gun possession and was remanded on bail to await court hearings.
Further up at a Vaitele-uta location, a Chinese expat worker was killed in a youth attack in October 2019.
The high rate of serious criminal activities around the area is a concern to the residents with more policing challenges.
The Tuanaimato Police station is the closest to the problem area. A Police training academy soon to be set up inside the former Tafaigata Prison compound is within quick reach.
The Nu’u village pulenu’u admitted, following the stone fighting incident about three months ago that the police is the best response for now.
Malagamali’i Solomona, accepts that it is a challenge as the pulenu’u in a residential area where there is no authority of the chiefs and orators, as in the traditional villages.
“This is an urban township area where families come from everywhere to live on their own freehold land and are virtually strangers to each other,” Malagamali’i agonized.
Youth violence is easily handled by the powerful influence of the traditional leadership in the villages, compared to a community of residents drawn from everywhere.
“ It would be easier if there is a fight between family neighbours or within a youth congregation because they are acquainted with each other.
“ When it is fight between different residential areas where they are strangers to each other, the best option is to call in the police.”
A recent urban survey found the whole Vaitele area up to Falelauniu and Tafaigata, to have the fastest population growth in the country.