Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
KEARNS — A man apparently upset with his children for not getting out of bed to go to church now faces criminal charges for assaulting them with a guitar, according to charging documents.
Lamatia Tapumanaia Sa, 60, of Kearns, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with child abuse, a second-degree felony; and child abuse, a class A misdemeanor.
On June 30, a 14-year-old boy was asleep in bed when Sa “tried to wake him up for church,” the charges state. “(The boy) decided to go back to bed and not get ready for church.”
Sa became upset by this and “picked up a guitar and attempted to strike (the boy) in the head,” according to charging documents.
The boy blocked the guitar from hitting his head, but Sa then hit the boy’s arm with the guitar four times, causing a broken arm, the charges state.
Another boy, 17, said he was awoken by Sa hitting him in the leg and hip with the guitar, and that the assault only stopped when the guitar broke, according to charging documents.