The police in Samoa say they believe the consumption of alcohol was involved in two separate incidents during the Christmas period which left two people dead.
A total of six people died over the festive season - four in accidents including two road fatalities and one drowning.
Our correspondent Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia says the police have confirmed that a Savaii man was beaten to death.
"One died from a village dispute where two men are now facing the murder charge as a result of an actual bodily harm to the deceased. The other one also happened after Christmas. There was a forty year old man who was stabbed to death by another man in the village of Salimoa as a result of a dispute."
Autagavaia Tipi Autagavaia says the number of violent deaths is relatively high for Samoa's festive season.
