San Jose minister clings to life after attack; 15-year-old boy in custody

San Jose Mercury News ^ | September 19, 2008 | Sean Webby

[nickcarraway]

An elderly minister lies near death in a San Jose hospital and a 15-year-old East Side teen is in custody after what police are describing as a brutal, bizarre and unprovoked knife attack on the grounds of the Tafatolu Congregational Church.

The Rev. I'a Saipaia, 79, suffered severe wounds including having his throat cut and his head pummeled with a full wine bottle Tuesday morning.

"He is a very, very good man," said the Rev. Jacob Iese, the church's 33-year-old pastor, as he stood in the same doorway where the attack happened. "I can make no sense of why this happened."

San Jose police Lt. John Tepoorten said it took a confluence of providence, a police bloodhound, the lucky aim of a surveillance video, community help, and dogged and coordinated detective work to find the suspect so quickly.

"It's also a miracle that this man is alive; there are forces at work here," said Tepoorten, head of the department's assault unit.

Saipaia is the associate minister at his longtime congregational church off Alvin Avenue near Tully Road. He had been giving his soft-spoken Sunday sermons in Samoan at the 200-member church since Iese — the regular minister — had gone on Sabbatical a few months before. He had two more sermons to give when he was attacked.

Described as a humble, quiet, even somewhat frail family man, Saipaia was watching his 3-year-old granddaughter on Tuesday morning in the minister's residence located across a parking lot from the church.

Just before 9 a.m., his attacker knocked on the door, according to police. When the minister opened the door, the youth stabbed Saipaia multiple times. He then picked up a full wine bottle given as a present from a graduating high-school parishioner —

[PAR35]

How did a congregant graduating from high school manage to buy a bottle of wine?

After reading the story, the wine may have been homemade. The label certainly was.

[DeLaine]

San Jose ping

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Silicon Valley ping

[martin_fierro]

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[skeeter]

You don’t wanna p*ss off the Samoan community. This would do it.

[csvset]

And there, police found the suspect, who is not being named by investigators because he is a minor.

That BS has to stop. If they're stabbing people, the citizens have every right to know who the bastard is and what he looks like.

[csvset]

Here's a link to a video report of the attack.

Here