Lauititi Tualima was captured just before 6pm on Monday afternoon after a police chase on foot had him cornered inside a fenced family property in Ululoloa.
The police had earlier aprehended his prison break buddy, Aniseko Vaelei, from his family in Vaiusu.
A search operation was led by the Deputy Police Commissioner who is responsible for Tanumalala Prison, Leiataualesa Samuelu Afamasaga.
Lauititi ran, triggering a police chase that spanned across at least two blocks and acres of mostly fenced residential homes and a few vacant lots in Ululoloa.
When Lauititi cut through properties on the main road facing the golf course, a member of the Ululoloa Neighbourhood Watch, Ututaaloga Vargas Rasch, loaded up some of the Officers onto the back of his landcruiser and drove them around the block to where the prisoner would ultimately end up.
Meantime, Deputy Commissioner Leiataualesa had teams baracading all the access roads out of the area where police were in pursuit, chasing Lauititi on foot.
Lautiti then jumps a fence and runs through a family property towards an access road. But to his demise, it would be one of the already baracaded roads and the very spot where Leiataualesa himself was stationed.
Lauititi turns and heads back into the family property. It is fully fenced. He was cornered with nowhere else to go.
DC Leiataualesa, police and village men who had been chasing Lauititi on foot descended on him from all directions.
Police Commissioner Auapaau Logoitino Filipo said the escaped prisoners did not reoffend in the three days they were at large and is grateful for the hard work of DC Leiataualesa and the teams involved in the search operation.
Aupaau had earlier alluded to the prison break being an suspected inside job and says the internal investigation report is expected to be completed today, Tuesday 3rd June.
“Sa le tatau ona tupu. This should never have happened,” he said after he had visited Tanumalala and found none of the installed security cameras were working.
Meanwhile immediate action has been taken to support Tanumalala Prison and CCTV cameras have all been restored.
The Commissioner gives his assurance they will be taking all necessary measures to ensure this does not happen again.
Lauititi Tualima, now 32, of Satapuala was convicted of rape at the Lupe Sina Tree Resort in 2015, an incident which involved him tying up an Australian tourist and raping her infront of her husband. He was only 23 at the time.
He is Samoa’s most notorious prison escapee with a history of: Burglary, Theft, Breaking and Entering, Robbery, Rape, Grievous Bodily Harm and Escape from Prison.
During that 2015 Lupe Sina Tree Resort incident, he had been on the loose, having escaped from Tafaigata prison.
In October 2019, Lauitiiti Tualima and the notorious armed roberer Aniseko Vaelei of Vaiusu and Aele escaped from Tanumalala Prison. On that incident they were caught and returned to prison after a short three days when a pardoned prisoner and former inmate they had contacted, turned them in.
This year the pair escaped from Tanumalala Prison on 22nd January and returned to prison in March after a two-month police search that included a $5000 tala reward for information. On that occasion, they were captured in a rental property near the Aele Primary School.
