27 Nov 2013

American Samoa murder convict escapes for sex

6:44 pm on 27 November 2013

A murder convict serving two life sentences in American Samoa is alleged to have escaped from the Territorial Correctional Facility to have sex with his girlfriend.

Maeli Isumu Pitoitua was sentenced to life imprisonment after he shot a taxi driver in the late 1990s and he was handed down another life sentence in

2006 for fatally assaulting an inmate with a machete.

The latest case accuses Pitoitua of escaping from jail in June when he was seen at a woman's house.

According to the government's case, the convict started a relationship with the married woman after he accidently called her cell phone.

Court filings say the two would talk on the phone at night and then they planned his escape from jail to have sex.