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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, June 29, 2002

Man found guilty of killing wife

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

A Ko Olina man faces a mandatory term of life in prison with the possibility of parole after a Circuit Court jury found him guilty yesterday of murdering his wife in April 2000.

Kenneth Wakisaka, 46, maintained at trial, through his attorney Mal Gillin, that his wife, Shirlene Wakisaka, 54, suffered from mental problems and was intent on taking her own life.

But city Deputy Prosecutor Dan Oyasato portrayed the Wakisaka's marriage as a stormy one, saying Shirlene Wakisaka had moved out of the couple's Ko Olina Fairways condominium at one point and had reconciled with her husband and moved back in a short time before her death.

Oyasato maintained that Kenneth Wakisaka took out a $100,000 life insurance policy on his wife only about a month before her death, and within hours after she died, tried to prevent an autopsy from being done.

The jury deliberated about two and a half days before finding Wakisaka guilty of second-degree murder. Circuit Judge Marie Milks set Wakisaka's sentencing for Sept. 3 and revoked his bail status.

Wakisaka, who appeared stunned by the verdict, handed his wallet, watch, ring and shoelaces over to a woman acquaintance in the courtroom gallery.

As he was being led out of the courtroom by deputy sheriffs, Wakisaka turned and told Gillin: "I really didn't expect this."

During the trial, Susan Siu, an investigator with the city medical examiner's department, said she interviewed Kenneth Wakisaka at the hospital after his wife died on April 10, 2000, and thought it odd that he was asking her if an autopsy would show whether his wife had been strangled.

Up to that point, the staff at St. Francis Medical Center West and the paramedics who treated Shirlene Wakisaka had been treating her case as an attempted suicide by drug overdose, Siu said.

She said Wakisaka hounded her and others at her office with telephone calls and even showed up in person to find out if the autopsy results were in and if they indicated whether Shirlene Wakisaka had been strangled.

Gillin claimed the case was, in fact, about the insurance money, but that Kenneth Wakisaka had been "framed" by Shirlene Wakisaka's adult daughters by a previous marriage. Gillin said the two daughters set up Kenneth Wakisaka so they would receive the life insurance policy proceeds and title to the Wakisaka's condominium as well.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.