Girl’s accused
killer says he
saw someone
else attack herChristopher Aki tells his mom
he was held against his will
as Indreginal was slain
In a letter to his mother, Christopher Aki, who is facing trial for allegedly murdering his girlfriend's 11-year-old half sister, wrote that someone else "threw her into the bathroom" of a state park and killed her.
Aki also wrote that while Kahealani Indreginal was assaulted in the bathroom, he was "beaten and held at gunpoint." He wrote that he was outside of the bathroom and did not see her killed.
"I am just an innocent victim like Kahea," wrote Aki, adding, "You have to trust me."
During a pretrial hearing yesterday, city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle said that the letter is evidence that Aki "is creating an alibi defense that 'I wasn't there and I didn't do it.'"
Aki, 20, faces trial for second-degree murder on Sept. 15 in the killing of Indreginal. After a massive three-day search last December, Indreginal's body, clothed in the beige corduroy pants and Roxy shirt she had worn to school, was found by a hiker in a wooded area off of Aiea Loop Trail. A weapon has not been recovered, and police are still analyzing blood samples from Aki's blue Neon.
Indreginal went missing the afternoon of Dec. 10 from the busy Puuwai Momi housing project in Makalapa where she lived with her family. Aki and his mother lived downstairs from the Indreginal family for several years. Family members have said Aki had known Indreginal from the time she was a baby and that he had treated her as a little sister.
Witnesses told police that Indreginal was last seen in the passenger seat of Aki's blue Neon. A straight-A student at Aiea Elementary School, Indreginal proudly wore five gold Hawaiian bracelets on her left arm and four on her right arm. The bracelets, according to police and prosecutors, have not been recovered.
Yesterday, Carlisle argued before Judge Victoria Marks that if Aki is going to use "an alibi defense" and testify that someone else killed the girl, he should identify that person or persons now rather than in the middle of the trial.
"I don't want this to be a trial by ambush," Carlisle told Marks.
Carlisle wants the name or names disclosed as part of the pretrial discovery process, during which time the prosecution and defense, as a matter of routine, notify each other of witnesses they intend to call, documents they will submit and certain facts they will argue. The deadline for discovery is July 1.
Todd Eddins, Aki's public defender, argued that disclosing such a name or names would violate both Aki's constitutional rights guarding against self-incrimination and his right to confidentiality under attorney-client privilege.
Eddins said that Aki has the right to wait until the trial commences to decide whether he is going to take the stand. A defendant can hear the state's case against him or her first and then decide whether to testify. Eddins argued that right would be taken away from Aki if he were forced now to disclose a name he might disclose if he decides later to take the stand.
Eddins said Aki "is being asked to testify before he has decided whether he is going to testify."
Carlisle argued that when Aki wrote to his mother, a third party, he broke the attorney-client privilege and could no longer be protected by it. Carlisle said that Aki's mother gave police the letter, which was written shortly after his incarceration.
Marks ruled that Aki's defense team must turn over names of witnesses it plans to call along with other documents and evidence by July 1. Sources close to the case said it is not likely that Aki would identify the killer and then have that person called as a witness. If he identifies someone and the defense does not call him to the stand, Aki is not required to identify him prior to trial. Marks also ruled that Aki is not required to name someone he does not plan to call as a witness.
Aki is currently being held in lieu of $5 million bail in protective custody at Oahu Community Correctional Center.
Warden Francis Sequeira said yesterday that Aki's family would like him taken out of protective custody.
However, Sequeira said that "as a precautionary measure we leave him in protective custody because of past threats made on his life. So it's in his best interests to stay where he is at."
Since the early days of the investigation, there has been speculation that more than one person was involved in the killing. At the time Aki was arrested, two other men also were arrested and later released.