Police Beat
Advertiser Staff
Big Island man's court-martial in May
An Air Force man from the Big Island charged with murder in the slaying of a fellow airman last fall in Okinawa will be court-martialed in May.
Airman 1st Class Damien G. Kawai, 19, is charged with the death of Airman 1st Class Charles F. Eskew Jr., 20, of Great Falls, Mont., who was found dead in his dormitory room Nov. 17 at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.
Kawai, who has been held in pretrial confinement since Nov. 19, was charged with murder Dec. 5. The trial is scheduled for early May.
Kawai, a 2000 graduate of Pahoa High School, is an aircraft jet engine mechanic. He joined the Air Force in September 2000 and was posted to Kadena, his first assignment, in April.
Eskew, an active member of the Great Falls Salvation Army, worked as a jet propulsion specialist at Kadena and volunteered as a chaplaincy guide there.
Two women held in Kalihi assault
Two women were arrested yesterday on suspicion of stabbing a 25-year-old man in Kalihi.
Police were called to the 1500 block of Amelia Street after the fight broke out at 11:55 p.m. Monday. The trouble started when the victim and a male friend tried to disarm a distraught woman trying to cut herself, police said.
Witnesses told police several other women began arguing with the men and that the two suspects, ages 22 and 23, stabbed one of the men.
The man was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in guarded condition.
Wai'anae baby found dead
Police are investigating the death of a 9-month-old Wai'anae boy.
The infant and his 21-month-old sister were left unattended in a bathtub at their Wai'anae apartment Monday morning, police said. When the father returned, he apparently discovered his son unconscious.
The boy was pronounced dead at Wai'anae Coast Comprehensive Health Center.
Woman arrested in embezzlement
Police arrested a 51-year-old woman on Monday on suspicion of embezzling more than $100,000 from her employer, a physician at Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children.
She was released pending further investigation. Police said the thefts occurred from Jan. 10, 1994, until Feb. 18, 2000.
