Police Beat
Advertiser Staff
Wife accused of knife attack
Police arrested a 43-year-old Kailua woman Wednesday night after she allegedly chased her husband through their home with a kitchen knife, slashing him several times.
The couple had been arguing about 7 p.m. in their Kalaheo Avenue home when the woman began chasing her 54-year-old husband, police said. She cut her husband several times on the arm and back as he fled, according to police.
The man left the home and called police from a pay phone.
The suspect was arrested for investigation of second-degree assault.
Woman unfit for trial in murder
A 68-year-old woman yesterday was found mentally unfit to stand trial on a murder charge in the stabbing of her husband this year.
District Judge Russell Blair followed the findings of three court-appointed mental health experts who determined Catherine Nakamura isn’t mentally fit.
Nakamura is accused of stabbing her husband, George, in their Wai‘anae home Feb. 7.
City prosecutors did not object to the ruling but said Nakamura should be examined again later. Another hearing is scheduled for March.
Girl hospitalized in kidnapping attempt
A 13-year-old girl was in guarded condition last night after she was hit by a car door in an attempted kidnapping yesterday.
Police said the girl was walking home on Wai‘alae Avenue at about 4:30 p.m. when a car pulled in front of her near the Pizza Hut restaurant parking lot. The man threw open the passenger side door, striking the girl in the abdomen, police said.
The man then demanded that the girl get in the car. Police said she ran away but the man followed her.
The girl reached home, where relatives called police. The suspect then fled.
The girl was taken to a hospital where she was being treated for her injuries.
The suspect is described as being in his 40s, medium to average build, pale complexion with black, neck-length hair. Police said he was driving a blue Pontiac Trans Am.
Waimanalo fire began in bedroom
The fire that destroyed a Waimanalo house Wednesday began in a bedroom, fire officials said yesterday. The cause of the fire still has not been determined.
The house at 41-175 Nalu St. was fully engulfed in flames by the time firefighters arrived at 6 a.m.
Firefighters declared the fire under control by 6:20 a.m., and extinguished the fire at 9:04 a.m.
The blaze did an estimated $175,000 damage to the structure, and an estimated $80,000 damage to the house's contents. Three vehicles on the property also were consumed by the blaze.
Red Cross volunteers met with the family, providing assistance for immediate needs, including temporary shelter.
No one was injured, but eight people were left homeless by the fire, which gutted the house and caused the roof to collapse.
Elevator gunman robs hotel guest
A 24-year-old male visitor was robbed at gunpoint in a Waikiki hotel elevator early Wednesday.
Police said the tourist entered one of the elevators at the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort shortly after midnight and was confronted by a man who pulled out a handgun and demanded money.
The visitor handed over an undisclosed amount of money to the gunman, who took the elevator to the ground floor and fled.
The robber is described as Polynesian, 5 feet 7, 150 pounds, with short, curly black hair. Police said he was wearing a blue shirt and black pants at the time of the robbery.
Man facing life term convicted in assault
A Wai'anae man facing life in federal prison without parole for the June 1998 murder of Army helicopter pilot John Latchum was convicted by a state jury yesterday in an unrelated assault case.
A jury in Circuit Judge Gail Nakatani's court found Bryson Jose, 22, guilty of assault in the second degree for beating an elderly Wai'anae store owner on Sept. 10, 1997.
The victim was not able to identify Jose very well at first, but gave a positive identification of Jose after she saw him on television following his arrest in the Latchum case.
For the assault charge, Jose could face a state sentence of up to five years. He is to be sentenced later this year in the Latchum case, in which witnesses said he told an accomplice to shoot at Latchum.
Latchum and his family were staying at a Wai'anae vacation cabin when he confronted several persons who had tried to break into the cabin, and was hit with a single bullet.
