Testimony depicts
an infant’s beating

A Japanese woman testifies to
the events in a Waikiki hotel

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By Leila Fujimori
lfujimori@starbulletin.com

A 34-year-old woman from Japan tearfully told a Honolulu District Court judge that Anthony Chatman repeatedly abused their 6-month-old son April 6-7 in a hotel room at the Ambassador Hotel in Waikiki.

Asahi Suzuki testified that on April 7, Chatman picked up their son Tyson (also known as Taison) with one hand and threw him onto a hotel bed from a height of about 2 feet, pushed his face into the bed and hit the baby's body.

"He told me in Japanese 'I don't want it,' " Suzuki said through an interpreter.

The baby has severe brain damage, retinal damage to both eyes and may never see again, as well as bruises over his eye, chest, ear, cheek and chin, testified pediatrician Victoria Schneider, the medical director at Kapiolani Child Protection Center.

Chatman, 32, glared at Suzuki during her testimony as she gazed downward, looking up only when Deputy Prosecutor Dan Oyasato asked her to point out Chatman in the courtroom.

Chatman, who is free on $50,000 bail, faces an attempted murder charge.

His preliminary hearing before Judge Marcia Waldorf continues Friday.

Suzuki said that when Tyson cried, Chatman repeatedly pushed his head back by placing his thumb on his chin, and the baby appeared to have a hard time breathing.

"He said, 'No, no. Shut your mouth,' " she said.

Suzuki said she went into the bathroom or onto the balcony, covered her ears and cried.

When Oyasato asked her why, she said, "When Tyson looked at me as if he was asking me to help him, Anthony would look at that and he would get even madder."

On April 8, Suzuki was ready to board a plane for Japan with her son when an airline employee who noticed the baby's condition alerted medical personnel.

The baby was taken to Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children.

The infant remains in the hospital, but is no longer in intensive care.

In 1994, Chatman's 4 1/2-month-old daughter suffered brain damage, paralysis and shaken baby syndrome as well as multiple fractures of both legs.

Police charged Chatman's babysitter with assault. Chatman testified that the woman, with whom he admitted to having an affair, had assaulted his daughter and that he had a taped phone conversation in which he said she admitted committing the crime.

The charges against the woman were dropped. Chatman was never charged, though he had been a suspect.

Suzuki said she came to Hawaii on April 2 and planned to stay until June 29.

"I came here thinking I'd like to discuss my future and Tyson's future with him," she said.