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Man receives 10 years
for kicking attack

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Star-Bulletin

A man who pleaded guilty to kicking another man during a confrontation outside a Waipahu 7-Eleven in August 1999 has been sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.

Tali Fai, 19, also received a 10-year term for an unrelated robbery that occurred in February 1999.

He was initially charged with second-degree murder in the death of Vaovai Faateleupu, who suffered a brain injury and lapsed into a coma before dying a few days later.

But at a trial in October that ended in a hung jury, the direct cause of death was not conclusive. A defense expert testified Faateleupu died as a result of a skull fracture sustained when he fell and hit a concrete trash container, and not from the kicks.

An agreement allowed Fai to plead to first-degree assault, said his attorney, Keith Shigetomi.