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By Debra Barayuga, Star-Bulletin Suspected baby abuser hopes
for pre-trial release
A man awaiting trial for allegedly shaking his 7-week-old son -- causing extensive brain injury -- because the baby wouldn't stop crying is making another bid for release until his trial.Judge Michael Town was expected to hear arguments today on Samita William Hall Sr.'s second request for supervised release or bail reduction.
Hall, 22, is charged with second-degree attempted murder. He is being held on $100,000 bail.
A request last August for supervised release or reduction of bail was denied because of the seriousness of the offense and because the court considered Hall a flight risk.
The baby's mother took him to the hospital March 17 after the boy's grandmother noticed the baby seemed dehydrated and lethargic.
A 18-year-old man charged with killing a man with kicks to the head was to ask the court today to be released while awaiting trial or have his bail reduced. Suspect in kicking death
will ask court for releaseTali Fai is charged with second-degree murder in the Aug. 6 beating that left Vaovai Faateleupu, also 18, comatose. Faateleupu died three days later. Fai and a juvenile allegedly accosted Faateleupu outside the Waipahu 7-Eleven because of remarks made to a girlfriend of one of Fai's friends.
According to court documents, Teen Challenge, a Christian-oriented program which helps teens who abuse drugs and alcohol, is willing to accept him if he is granted supervised release.
The Oahu Intake Services Center in a pre-trial bail report recommended that Fai not be released because of the violent nature of the offense he is charged with and the danger he poses to the witnesses and community.
If the court grants conditional release, the state asked that Fai be banned from Waipahu and Waipio and ordered under 24-hour house arrest to the Teen Challenge program.
Fai is scheduled for trial the week of May 30. He is being held on $200,000 bail.
Panel to assess whether killer should be released
A man found not guilty by reason of insanity for shooting a woman in the face with a pellet gun and stabbing her to death at Ala Moana Center more than 20 years ago is asking to be released.Circuit Judge Michael Town yesterday granted a motion to appoint a three-member panel to evaluate Randall Saito and recommend whether he should be released from the State Hospital, where he has been since 1981.
Saito, then 21, shot and stabbed Sandra Yamashiro, 29, as she was about to leave the shopping center in July 1979.
Saito last applied for a conditional release, subsequently denied, in 1993.
State Hospital officials felt conditions could be imposed to ensure the community's safety if he were released, said deputy public defender Dean Yamashiro.
However, the state objected to Saito's request for release.
Saito was diagnosed as a necrophiliac, a person with a sexual attraction to corpses. His attorney in 1981, David Schutter, did not contest Saito's committal, saying he was dangerous, and agreed with mental health experts that he "intends to do it again."
Park Service creating team to battle weeds
Funds to wipe out "invasive alien vegetation" that threaten Hawaii's national parks are on the way, says U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka.Using a fiscal 2000 appropriation, the National Park Service established a Biological Resource Management Division and selected four field-based Exotic Plant Management Teams.
Haleakala National Park on Maui will serve as a host park.
The goal is to prevent newly established alien weed species from gaining significant footholds in native habitats. The Hawaii team will receive $1.25 million over five years for the initiative.
Waialae Avenue near mall to be spruced up
The Waialae Avenue area around Kahala Mall will get a face lift with new paving, fence posts and chain-link fence; clearing and grubbing of areas to be landscaped; and planting of shrubs and palms.Work is set to begin in June under a $251,420 contract awarded by the state Department of Transportation to Green Thumb Inc.
The contract also provides for installing permanent irrigation lines to maintain plants.
Clan Buchanan hosting annual Scottish event
Toss a caber (large tree) or sheaf (Scottish hammer) 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the 19th Hawaiian Scottish Festival at Kapiolani Park.Celtic Pipes and Drums of Hawaii, the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, the Society for Creative Anachronism and the Musketeers Fencers will perform at the event, sponsored by the Hawaiian Scottish Association.
Representatives from various clans, including host Clan Buchanan, will have booths where visitors can research their ancestry. The Highland Gathering and Games ends Scottish Heritage Week.
Correction
A photo caption Tuesday on page A-5 misidentified a person giving medical aid to a boy as a firefighter. The person helping was a medical technician with the Emergency Medical Services.
Clarification
Police, Fire, Courts
By Star-Bulletin staffHonolulu Police Department Crimestoppers
Officer assaulted, busy line blocks help call
An off-duty police officer who was assaulted and injured last night reported that he couldn't radio for back-up because the police communication system was busy.Detective Gary Lahens was driving in Kalihi when he was flagged down by a witness at the parking lot of Burger King on North King Street at 11:50 p.m., police said. After seeing a man attacking a woman, Lahens tried to radio for help, but it was busy.
The male suspect was punching his former girlfriend through the window of her car when Lahens identified himself as a police officer. But the suspect continued punching the woman.
Lahens was also attacked when he pulled the suspect off the woman, police said. The suspect then ran away and is still at large.
Lahens was taken to Queen's Hospital; he was treated and released for head and neck pain.
Big Isle man abducts, attacks wrong girl
HILO -- Police are holding a 27-year-old Hilo man for abducting a teen-age girl who he later discovered was not the person he wanted to kidnap.The Mountain View girl told police she was fishing in the Keaukaha area Tuesday when the man punched her, put her in the trunk of his car, and drove to the Panaewa area, police said.
When he let her out of the trunk, he discovered he had the wrong girl, they said. He took her back to the area where he attacked her and let her go. The man was arrested later. The girl was treated at Hilo Hospital and released.
Homeless man facing murder charges
A 35-year-old homeless man remains in police custody today awaiting second-degree murder charges.He is accused of slaying a 42-year-old homeless man with a shovel during a fight at the Kaneohe Civic Center Park Tuesday night.
Kaimuki crosswalk victim, 74, identified
The 74-year-old Aina Haina woman who was killed after being struck by a car in Kaimuki has been identified as Sally Nakamura.Nakamura was inside a marked crosswalk at Koko Head and Mahina avenues when she was hit by a Ford Bronco, police said.
Woman arrested twice for abusing husband
Police arrested an Enchanted Lake woman twice Tuesday for abusing and threatening her husband.She was arrested after throwing bottles and a telephone at her husband at their Aupupu Place home at 6:30 p.m., police said.
The woman was booked for domestic abuse and bailed out of jail, police said. She didn't abide officer's order to stay away from her husband for 24 hours and returned home.
The husband was sleeping when he was awakened to see his wife holding a knife in her hand at 10:30 p.m. When he grabbed her arm, she bit his wrist.
He ran out of the home and she also fled the home. She was arrested shortly after for first-degree terroristic threatening.
