EPHRAIM, Utah, Dec. 19, 2022 (Gephardt Daily) — A former Snow College football player has been charged with rape and attempted murder after police say he sexually assaulted and tried to kill his ex-girlfriend.
Peni Latuselu, 23, was charged Monday in 6th District Court with attempted murder and two counts of rape, all first-degree felonies, in connection with alleged assaults between November 2019 and March 2020.
Latuselu, a member of the Snow College football team in 2019, was in a romantic relationship with the alleged victim that started in May 2018 but “later turned violent and toxic,” charging documents state.
In November 2019, prosecutors say Latuselu met with the woman in Ephraim and “demanded that they have sex to ‘heal’ the relationship.”
“[Latuselu], who was a college football player, is significantly larger than the victim and he grabbed her and forced her to have sex,” charges state.
The woman stated “numerous times that she didn’t want to have sex” and cried for him to stop, according to charging documents.
On Dec. 7, 2019, after Latuselu and the woman had broken up, he “managed to get the victim alone in a room,” where he pushed her up against a wall, “placed his hands on her neck and choked her, telling her that he was going to kill her,” charges state.
On March 13, 2020, while at Latuselu’s apartment in Ephraim “to collect her belongings and terminate the relationship forever,” the man again demanded sex, the charges allege.
The woman “repeatedly told [Latuselu] to stop and that she didn’t want to have sex but [he] would not listen and physically overpowered her,” court documents state.
Prosecutors say Latuselu later “became enraged” and began shouting and throwing things at the woman. After refusing the woman’s requests to leave, he “grabbed her and threw her into the bathroom,” causing her to hit her head on the bathtub, charges state.
“[Latuselu] then picked the victim up with his hands around her neck and choked her, screaming he was going to kill her,” court documents state.
The woman managed to open a bedroom window and call for help before Latuselu again “grabbed the victim and threw her to the ground,” charges state.
“Standing over her, he told her several times: ‘Shut up or I will kill you!'”
Latuselu then placed a pillow over the woman’s face, making it so the woman couldn’t scream or breathe, charges state. He later admitted in text messages to the woman that he was trying to kill her, police said.
Latuselu also had access to the woman’s financial cards and accounts “and used them without permission on numerous occasions” totaling more than $1,500, charges state.
The Snow College athletics website lists Latuselu as a freshman from Apache Junction, Arizona, on the Badgers’ 2019 roster.
In addition to rape and attempted murder, he has been charged with:
- Kidnapping, a second-degree felony
- Two counts of aggravated assault/domestic violence, a third-degree felony
- Unlawful use or possession of a financial transactions card, a third-degree felony
