4 Nov 2016

American, wanted in Tonga, stays in American Samoa

4:50 pm on 4 November 2016

American Samoa District Court Judge Fiti Sunia has denied a motion from American Dean Fletcher on charges of entering the terrritory illegally to be dismissed.

American Samoa District Court Judge Fiti Sunia has denied a motion from American Dean Fletcher on charges of entering the terrritory illegally to be dismissed.

Dean Jay Fletcher

Dean Jay Fletcher taking a nap after arriving from Tonga in Pago Pago Photo: Tauva Esera

Mr Fletcher, who has been charged with murder in Tonga, was arrested trying to sail away from American Samoa on his yacht Sea Oak early last month.

He is being held without bail for entering American Samoa without proper clearance and proof that he was cleared from his last port of call, Tonga.

Tonga police are seeking the man for escaping from prison on Vava'u, a week before he was to stand trial for the murder of his wife.

The Tongan Government has been in discussions with the US State Department to have Mr Fletcher extradited to Tonga for his murder trial, but Tongan police left the territory this week without the man, who remains in the Territorial Correctional Facility,

Mr Fletcher is now due to go to a pre-trial hearing in American Samoa on the entry charges, on November 22nd.

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