Woman who beat
spouse says she
was out of control

The defendant testifies that she
drove her husband to the hospital

By Linda Hosek
Star-Bulletin

When Perla Gamboa fell out of her husband's grip as he tried to force her to have sex Jan. 30, she also fell out of control.

Gamboa, 49, testified yesterday during her attempted-murder trial that she couldn't call police because he had threatened to kill her, even though she knew he was violating a Family Court order.

She said she walked outside after his assault, saw a hammer on a washing machine and returned to the bedroom in their Foster Village home. Her husband, Hesequio, lay awake, his eyes closed.She said she hit him on his head, saw his arms fly up and hit him again.

"When I saw blood dripping from my husband's head, it was like I just woke up and realized what I was doing," she said.

"I carried him out to the van and drove to the hospital. I don't know where my strength came from."

Hesequio Gamboa testified last week that his wife had been gone from the house for two days on a gambling spree and that he fell asleep alone around midnight.

He said the next thing he remembered was waking about two days later in Queen's Hospital, where he received surgery for skull fractures, swelling and a blood clot.

The state has alleged that Perla Gamboa was mad about gambling losses and attacked her husband as he slept. Jurors will hear closing arguments Thursday then begin deliberations. If convicted, she faces life in prison with parole.

Perla Gamboa remained tearful throughout four hours of testimony yesterday, her voice rising each time she referred to her husband's deceit.

She said she married Hesequio in the Philippines, planning to sponsor him to Hawaii when she became an American citizen. But she said she learned he had a girlfriend and two children in the Philippines and believed he married her only as a way to bring them over.

She also said she lost sexual feelings for her husband after he molested two of their four children in 1995.

Hesequio Gamboa pleaded no contest to fourth-degree sexual assault and harassment and received a restraining order to stay away from their home.

Perla Gamboa said that she initially gambled with relatives for fun and that her husband was happy because she brought home money. But she said she increasingly gambled to relieve stress between her and her husband, who arrived in Hawaii in 1984 after she became a citizen.

She said he was cold and indifferent when they reunited, but wanted sex every night because it helped him sleep.

Gamboa said her husband slapped her and held the sharp point of a knife to her in 1985, when she was pregnant with their second child. He testified he was angry because she had been gambling and failed to pick him up. He also said he used the knife's dull edge to scare her.

Perla Gamboa said her husband threatened to kill her if she ever called the police on him, forcing her to remain silent when he sexually abused her. Under cross-examination, she said she never told anyone about the sexual abuse.

Gamboa said her Catholic religion didn't permit her to get a divorce and she didn't want to break up their family. She also said "love still exists" for her husband, despite his deceit, sexual assaults and child molestation.

Gamboa said if she had wanted to kill her husband, she wouldn't have rushed him to the hospital or admitted to police that she had struck him.

When asked if she had to do it, she said: "I was out of control."