Ireland left,
and 3 men followed,
surfer testifies
He says Frank Pauline was
with a group talking about 'that
nice lady' on a bikeJury will see repainted VW
By Rod Thompson
Star-BulletinHILO -- Surfer Shayne Koba-yashi saw Frank Pauline Jr. and brothers Ian and Shawn Schweitzer drive in the direction of murder victim Dana Ireland on the afternoon she was attacked, Dec. 24, 1991, Kobayashi testified yesterday.
Kobayashi admitted he was in prison when he told police about the events years later, and he made a deal to get out. But he also said he came forward "for justice."
"I felt what he (Pauline) did was wrong, and if was ... if it happened to somebody in my family and nobody came forward with 'em, you know, and I knew had somebody out there, I would want them for come forward, too. At least so they can sleep."
Kobayashi's testimony linking Pauline to the area followed testimony by police Lt. Paul Ferreira that Pauline linked himself to the crime during an automobile tour with police by pointing out various places involved.
Pauline is on trial on charges of kidnapping, sexual assault and murder. The Schweitzer brothers are to be tried in November on the same charges.
Kobayashi said he spent a day of surfing at a place on the Puna coast called "Shacks," then had two or three beers with friends in the midafternoon.
Pauline and the Schweitzers arrived, then a young woman on a 10-speed or mountain bicycle, Kobayashi said. She stopped for about five minutes, straddling her bicycle, not more than 20 feet from him, Pauline and others, he said."People in our group was talking, 'Look at that nice lady over there,' " he said.
Pauline didn't say anything.
"She seen us over there because she went look our way," Kobayashi said. Then she left.
Everyone left about 10 minutes later, planning to meet at Pahoa school, about 20 minutes away. The Schweitzers and Pauline took a different route and didn't come to the school, he said.
The next day, he heard about the young woman's death in the news media, and because posters were put up offering a reward.
Soon after, he was interviewed by a policeman but didn't tell him anything.
"I didn't know nothing at the time," he explained.
Kobayashi was later convicted of sex assault in an unrelated case and bail jumping, and could have served up to 15 years in prison.
After making the deal to testify, he served three years.
Defense attorney Clifford Hunt suggested Kobayashi was getting revenge on Pauline and others for beating him up once.
Kobayashi answered with a question. "After that, how much times we went out together?"
Lt. Ferreira testified that on June 18, 1994, Pauline took police on a tour of the sites in the attack.
Pauline said Ireland was attacked near the entrance to Kapoho Kai Drive, Ferreira said.
Previous testimony has shown the attack site was a half mile down Kapoho Kai.
Pauline also pointed out a place called Sand Hill and the fisherman's trail where Ireland was found. He wasn't sure which was the place Ireland was sexually assaulted, he said.
Hunt has told jurors Pauline's tour was a "wild goose chase."
Ferreira essentially confirmed that Pauline got wrong the site where a car hit Ireland's bicycle, and many people in Puna knew the site of the fishing trail by the time Pauline talked to police in 1994, he said.
Pauline's mother has said her son learned the general story from someone else, and then made a false confession to try to make a deal for other family members facing charges.
Ferreira testified Pauline said he was fuzzy about details because he was high on crack cocaine, and he was in the back seat of the small Volkswagen bug while the events took place.
Alesia Correa testified she saw Ian Schweitzer's Volkswagen bug, formerly owned by her son, on Dec. 26 or 27, 1991.
It had a dent in the front fender the size of a basketball, she said.
Fred Pereira testified that he advised Pauline's half-brother John Gonsalves to have Pauline tell his story to police.
Among the witnesses expected to testify in the Dana Ireland trial today: NEXT WITNESSES
Charla Figueroa, Pauline's girlfriend and mother of his three children.
Murder-case jury will
By Rod Thompson
see repainted VW
Star-BulletinHILO -- The jury in the Dana Ireland case tomorrow will get to see the Volkswagen bug allegedly used to run Ireland down.
In a court motion, Deputy Prosecutor Lincoln Ashida said the viewing would take only a few minutes, but will give jurors a better concept than photos of the "cover-up" paint job done after the attack, the "stripped interior," and the car's general size, including the front-end trunk where Ireland was allegedly carried.
Ashida said the car would be brought to the basement parking area of the state building where the court is located.
The defense agreed to the prosecution motion and the viewing is scheduled for tomorrow at 3 p.m.
The prosecution also is asking permission to bring a witness to rebut expert testimony.
The defense expert is expected to say a crash between a car and a bicycle would not produce the kind of damage seen on the Volkswagen.
That and other motions to limit hearsay testimony were to be heard this morning.
Ashida also stated in a document that the prosecution has eliminated 245 witnesses out of the 313 they once listed.
With that, the prosecution case is expected to end sometime next week, he wrote.
Meanwhile, a woman juror was dismissed for unexplained reasons yesterday and replaced by an alternate, an elderly man who had hearing problems during jury selection.
With two jurors dismissed and replaced, that means the number of remaining alternates is down to two.
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