Man stranded here following dismissal of case

A man who was flown in from Tinian to answer criminal charges filed against him is now stranded on Saipan following the dismissal of his criminal charges.

Gener C. Abaga, 50, remains stranded on Saipan following the dismissal of his case because he allegedly has no money to pay for a plane ticket back to Tinian and has no friends or family on Saipan.

Abaga was flown in from Tinian for a bail hearing last Monday following his arrest last March 10. Abaga was charged with assault and battery.

Abaga’s case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it can be refiled, because there was no signed document stating that the affidavit charging Abaga was reviewed by a judge and that probable cause exists to charge him.

During the bail hearing, Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph Camacho told Abaga that this wouldn’t be the first time for a person arrested on either Tinian or Rota who found themselves stuck on Saipan following the dismissal of their case.

Camacho added that it’s quite a situation because the defendant is no longer being charged but, at the same time, he still cannot return home.

The court is not obligated to cover the cost of a flight home for a person arrested on either of the two other islands in the Commonwealth.

Abaga’s lawyer, the Office of the Public Defender’s Jean Pierre Nogues, asked the court if there were any other alternatives or people to contact about the situation.

After much discussion, Nogues advised Abaga to visit the OPD after he is processed and released from the Department of Corrections to see what legal help he can get so he can return home.

Abaga was arrested on Tinian for allegedly punching his daughter in the face because she threw his car keys away in order to stop him from confronting her boyfriend with a machete.

According to court information, Abaga and his daughter got into an argument at around 1am on March 10, 2019, because Abaga wanted to “kill” her boyfriend with a machete for hitting her earlier in the evening.

The victim is the same one who was allegedly slapped, punched, and choked by her boyfriend, according to a previous article on the Saipan Tribune.

During the argument, the victim took the keys from Abaga’s car and insisted that he stay and eventually threw the keys so he wouldn’t leave and that was when Abaga punched the victim and she fell unconscious.

The victim told police that she did not want her father to go to jail and it was her fault she got hit.

The victim’s sibling witnessed the event and told their landlady, who then reported the event to the police.