Posted on: Sunday, December 9, 2001

Hilo stabbing suspect charged

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Big Island police have charged a 43-year-old Hilo man suspected of stabbing a California man during a fight at a Hilo bar with attempted murder.

Randy Galima, a former Hilo corrections officer who lived above the Banyan Drive bar where the Thursday stabbing occurred, was arrested Friday evening at Hilo Medical Center, where he had gone to seek treatment for a minor laceration.

Police said an officer at the hospital on another matter noticed Galima's name on a patient board and called for assistance. He was arrested after the medical staff finished treating the laceration.

Galima was held without bail in the Hilo police cell block.

The Pleasanton, Calif., man, Mark Lamont Dehl, 51, was in guarded condition yesterday at Hilo Medical Center.

He was treated for stab wounds to the upper chest and abdomen.

In March, Galima held officers at bay for eight hours while holding an infant hostage at his home. Police used pepper spray to subdue him and rescued the child unharmed.