A former Hawaiian Mission Academy employee is facing 10 years in prison for an alleged assault that happened in the school’s gymnasium July 4 last year.

An Oahu grand jury returned an indictment yesterday charging Schoen Ulisese Safotu with first-degree assault.

Some church members were using the gymnasium when a boy set off the fire alarm, said Lynn Hodgson Park, deputy prosecutor.

Safotu, who was the school’s dormitory dean, athletics director and a teacher, was angry for being called to fix the alarm and told the boy’s apologetic father it will cost $500 to reset it, she said.

The man offered to pay the $500 but "the defendant just got madder and punched him full-on in the jaw and mouth," Park said.

She said Safotu continued to punch and choke the man after the man had fallen to the floor.

The man suffered permanent injury and is being evaluated for brain and neurological damage, Park said.