An American man who escaped custody in Tonga and sailed out of the country in his yacht has been detained in American Samoa.
Dean Jay Fletcher, who is accused of the murder of his wife, sailed out of Vava'u in the early hours of Thursday morning, and a chase was called off after Mr Fletcher fired flares at Tongan police.
On Tuesday morning his yacht, the Sea Oak, entered Pago Pago harbour, 600 kilometres to the northeast, and attempted to refuel, but when he couldn't he tried to leave before being intercepted by authorities.
Our correspondent in Pago Pago, Monica Miller, told Jamie Tahana that Mr Fletcher is now being held by police for a customs violation.
Photo: Tauva Esera
Transcript
MONICA MILLER: It has been confirmed that the man on the yacht 'Sea Oak' has the same name as the person who is wanted for murder in Tonga, Dean Jay Fletcher, and for now he is being held on a customs violation and there has been no further details on what that is, and he is now going to spend the night at the territorial correction facility. The sequence of events as they unfolded today ... we have been able to verify that the man came into port and wanted to fuel up but there is a tanker in port and the refueling operations that usually take place did not occur today so he was leaving and in fact had been out maybe over five miles out when the marine patrol unit - and we are unsure what tirggered the Marine Patrol Unit - to go out and escort the yacht back in, and then the gentleman on board, he was outside the marine patrol unit area just next to the interisland dock and he just sprawled up on the bench and slept, He didn't seem to have any worry. There was a bit of a confusion as to on what basis he would be helped because we do not have an extradition treaty with Tonga. But late this afternoon I spoke with the Attorney General, and he said that he has been told that the man is wanted in Tonga, so he says that steps have to be taken to ensure that no problems occur for the people of American Samoa and then after that the commisioner said that Mr Fletcher is now being held on a customs violation. So that's where we are.
JAMIE TAHANA: What steps can be taken if American Samoa, well I guess the United States, doesn't have an extradition treaty with Tonga?
MONICA MILLER: You know we really don't have any precedent in this case. We have had people that have been wanted in Hawaii and other states in the mainland who have been extradited but I do not recall in all the years that I have been reporting here which is over thirty years anything like that happening but I am told that America Samoa belongs to a transnational crime unit and that there are some protocols that were in place.
JAMIE TAHANA: Presumably that would have to happen pretty quickly because you know you can only hold someone for so long especially for what seems like a minor thing, a customs offence.
MONICA MILLER: That's right. Usually we can hold someone up to 48 hours without charging them but because we don't have information about the customs violation maybe he came in and did not allow the customs authoritIes to board before he left again because you know everyone has to come in and declare and so forth. From the infoRmation that we are getting perhaps the customs weren't able to board before the guy decided to try leave again.
JAMIE TAHANA: It seems extraordinary that he almost managed to slip off.
MONICA MILLER: I tell you ... yes , I mean I think that if he was allowed to refuel and was able to go off again, I don't think he would have been under the radar of the local authorities but at the same time I do note that there was information given to our port authorities and also to the Department of Public Safety.
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