CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Florencio Garperio, charged with second-degree murder in his wife's killing, testified yesterday that he had accused his wife, Mercy, of having an affair with a neighbor.

Man claims ignorance
in wife’s stabbing death

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By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com

A Kalihi man accused of murdering his wife just more than a year ago said he cannot remember stabbing her and was not aware of what had happened to her until he was arrested hours later.

Florencio Garperio, 54, charged with second-degree murder, took the witness stand in his defense yesterday and said he learned from others later that his wife had died and that he was responsible.

"I was hurt because I loved my wife and didn't expect her to die," he said through an Ilocano interpreter.

The defense does not dispute that Garperio killed his wife, Mercy, on Sept. 29, 2001, but contends he was suffering from an emotional and mental disturbance and should be found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

The state contends Garperio knew what he had done and fled after leaving the knife he used to stab her on a kitchen counter.

When trial began, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Maurice Arrisgado said that when Garperio returned home a few hours after the stabbing and was immediately arrested by police, Garperio told police he had stabbed his wife, and asked if she was dead. He also told the officer who was transporting him to the Kalihi Police Station that his wife had been fooling around, said Arrisgado, who noted that there was no evidence that Mercy Garperio was cheating on her husband.

During questioning by his attorney Dale Bennett, Garperio acknowledged that he had accused his wife of having an affair with a neighbor and being pregnant.

He had lost his job as a food preparer on board the Star of Honolulu shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and had to file for unemployment. He testified his wife constantly nagged him about not working.

Garperio said he accused his wife of being pregnant because she appeared to be, and he was worried that a baby would be one more mouth to feed. To make it worse, he said, he suspected the baby was not his.

There was no evidence that his wife was pregnant, Arrisgado said.

Jurors, who received the case yesterday afternoon, are expected to resume deliberations today.

Second-degree murder is punishable with life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. Manslaughter carries a 20-year prison term.