Teenager gets 20 years
for role in fatal beating

Prosecutors say 5 boys were out
to assault and rob people for fun

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By Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.com

The last of five males convicted of beating and stomping to death a 34-year-old Waianae man and leaving him to die in July 2001 was sentenced to 20 years in prison yesterday.

Victor Faagau, who was 15 at the time, was tried as an adult for the murder of William Van Winkle at Waianae District Park. He was convicted earlier this year in a jury-waived trial of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Faagau, now 17, addressed Van Winkle's family publicly for the first time yesterday, saying he was sorry for their loss and suffering as a result of his "stupidity." He said he had not intended to hurt anyone in any way and attributed it to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Faagau was part of a group of boys led by Branden Adkins whose idea it was to "beat up people for fun and rob them," prosecutors said.

Faagau had testified at trial that he had struck Winkle in the arm and kicked him in the leg. But Circuit Judge Sandra Simms ruled that she did not find Faagau credible, calling his and the rest of the group's behavior early that morning "absolutely appalling."

She told Faagau he recklessly stomped and struck Van Winkle repeatedly and that he later rinsed his bloodstained shoes off in the park restroom "because you knew what you had done was wrong."

Debra Mahelona, Van Winkle's sister, said her family was handed a life sentence when Faagau and his group took her brother's life.

"You took away something that was so important to all of us -- and that is our sentence," she told Faagau.

Simms denied the state's request for an extended term of life with parole but also denied the defense request for probation or an eight year sentence as a youthful offender.

Deputy Prosecutor Franklin Pacarro Jr. had argued for an extended term based on Faagau's history of assaultive behavior since grade school, including the assault on Van Winkle.

Defense attorney Myles Breiner had argued that there is nothing in Faagau's record to suggest he will go out and do it again and that the facts and circumstances of the case indicate he was a "follower."

Adkins, considered the most culpable in Van Winkle's death, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder just before he was to go to trial in September. He was sentenced to life with parole in February.

Another defendant, Calvin Dole, was convicted of the lesser charge of second-degree assault and received four years as a youthful offender. Two other males were adjudicated in Family Court on second-degree assault charges.